The effects on microstructucture of austenitising temperature and cooling rate during hardening were studied for a hot-work tool steel. Transformation temperatures were determined by dilatometry, scanning electron microscopy was used to characterise the microstructure and both retained austenite contents and their lattice parameters were measured by neutron diffraction. For lower cooling rates, lower austenitising temperatures produce larger amounts of both retained austenite and bainite. Retained austenite in bainitic structures is higher in carbon than in martensitic structures. Consequently, lowering the austenitising temperature will affect microstructure and properties.

The surface of large tools will be exposed to the hardening temperature for longer times than the core. This might in occasions, result in grain growth. In order to prevent this, it has become practice to lower the hardening temperature. This paper presents the effect of this practice on the precipitation of tempering carbides and the tempering resistance of Uddeholm Dievar. Composition of equilibrium austenite and the undissolved carbides at two different hardening temperatures were estimated by Thermo Calc simulations and the calculations predict that the balance between the amounts of molybdenum and vanadium in the austenite is shifted towards more molybdenum at the lower austenitising temperature. Since molybdenum stabilises M₂C precipitates, it was predicted also that the tempering carbides would be almost only M₂C in the sample with the lower austenitising temperature, whereas for the higher austenitising temperature, the subsequent tempering would yield a mixture of the much more stable MC together with M₂C. Samples were hardened at the simulated temperatures and tempered. The existing carbides were investigated with help of SEM and TEM. The result shows that a lowered austenitisation temperature decreases the tempering resistance. However, the transmission electron microscopy reveals that both samples have the same mixture of tempering carbides, as the samples do not reach thermodynamical equilibrium during the holding time at the hardening temperature. The lower austenitising temperature gives less tempering carbides as less alloying elements are dissolved.

Hot- work tool steels require high austenitising temperature during hardening in order to yield the high tempering resistance that vanadium- rich carbides supply. Such grades, when offering high cleanness, are also used for plastic injection molding. The hardening temperature can then be lower, yielding a lower content of vanadium in the martensitic matrix and precipitating instead molybdenum-rich carbides, M2C- type, during tempering. M2C- type carbides are metastable and have high carbide/ matrix interface energy, which implies a greater driving force for coarsening than that in the MC- type. In this paper the carbide evolution in two hot- work grades hardened at 1000˚C, is studied after two and threetemperings. Type, size and distribution of tempering carbides were investigated with the help of TEM. Undissolved carbides were documented by SEM investigation and the microstructures classified by LOM. Hardness levels and Charpy V test results are also reported here.