Patent ID: 7235212

Claim:
A structural, stainless steel alloy comprising, in combination, by weight: about 0.15 0.3% carbon (C), 8 to 17% cobalt (Co), about 2.0 to 5% nickel (Ni), about 8.0 to 11.0% chromium (Cr), about 1.0 to 3.0% molybdenum (Mo), less than about 0.8% vanadium (V), and less than about 3% tungsten (W), the balance essentially iron (Fe) and incidental elements and impurities, characterized in that the alloy has a predomanantly lath martensite microstructure essentially without topologically close packed intermetallic phases and said carbon (C) predominantly is in dispersion of nanoscale M 2 C carbide particles having a nominal dimension less than about ten (10) nanometers in diameter, where M is two or more elements selected from the group consisting of Cr, Mo, W, V, Nb and Ta.