SUB-ZERO TREATMENT OF P/M VANADIS 6 LEDEBURITIC TOOL STEEL

• Main Authors: Peter Jurči, Jana Sobotová, Petra Salabová, Otakar Prikner, Borivoj Šuštaršič, Darja Jenko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Univerzity of Zilina. Faculty of Mechanical Engineering 2013-09-01
• Series: Materiálové Inžinierstvo
• Subjects: Cr-V ledeburitic steel; Sub-zero treatment; Microstructure; Mechanical properties; Tribology
• Online Access: http://fstroj.uniza.sk/journal-mi/PDF/2013/18-2013.pdf

The Cr-V ledeburitic steel Vanadis 6 was vacuum austenitized at different temperatures, nitrogen gas quenched and double tempered at 530 °C for 2 h. For the selected samples, a sub-zero period was inserted between quenching and tempering. The obtained results infer that: I) as-quenched microstructure consisted of martensite, retained austenite and undissolved carbides, II) sub-zero processing reduced the amount of the retained austenite and increased the tetragonality of the martensitic lattice, III) as-quenched hardness of the steel was higher by 2 – 3 HRC due to sub-zero processing, IV) as-tempered hardness increased with increasing austenitizing temperature but it decreased slightly with the sub-zero period, V) no negative impact of sub-zero processing on toughness was recorded, VI) wear resistance increased with sub-zero period when 100Cr6 steel has been used as a counterpart.