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2016 (English)In: Steel Research International, ISSN 1611-3683, E-ISSN 1869-344X, Vol. 12, no 1 December, p. 1609-1618Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The effects of austenitization and tempering temperatures for a 5 wt% Cr cold work tool steel are studied with an aim of understanding the influence on microstructure and mechanical properties. Microstructures are characterized with scanning electron microscopy and light optical microscopy. Retained austenite contents and martensite start temperatures are measured by X-ray diffraction and dilatometry, respectively. Hardness, impact toughness, and compressive yield strength are also determined. When the austenitization temperature is increased from 1020 or 1050 to 1075 °C, followed by tempering at 525 °C, significant hardness is gained while there is no increase in compressive yield strength. Higher austenitization temperatures also produce larger amounts of retained austenite. At the same time, the impact toughness is reduced due to coarsening of the martensitic microstructure. When the steel is tempered at 200 °C, a higher impact toughness and a higher volume fraction of retained austenite are observed. Retained austenite is not found after tempering at temperatures of 525 °C or above. It is concluded that the best combination of mechanical properties is achieved by austenitization at 1020 or 1050 °C followed by tempering at 525 °C.
Keywords
Cold work, tool steel, austenitization, tempering, retained austenite, impact toughness
National Category
Manufacturing, Surface and Joining Technology
Research subject
Production Technology; ENGINEERING, Manufacturing and materials engineering
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hv:diva-9689 (URN)10.1002/srin.201600012 (DOI)000392632900005 ()2-s2.0-84971330355 (Scopus ID)
Funder
Knowledge Foundation
2016-12-162016-08-102019-12-03Bibliographically approved