Oscar Olimpio de Araujo Filho

Grain Size of Commercial High Speed Steel

The heat treatment of high speed steel tools consists of austenitizing, quenching and tempering. The size of austenite grains formed during the hardening treatment is an important factor in the final microstructure of the steel, and it also affects properties such as wear resistance and toughness. This paper presents the austenite grain size, matrix composition and hardness of commercial AISI M2, AISI T15, VWM3C and Sinter 23 high speed steels that were austenitized and quenched from five distinct temperatures. This study shows that increase in quenching temperature results in grain growth of steels such as AISI M2 and VWM3C, obtained by the conventional method (cast to ingot and worked). The P/M Sinter 23 high speed steel showed a slight grain growth (about 10%). This effect was not observed in AISI T15 obtained by the powder metallurgy process.

Sintering of AISI M3:2 High Speed Steel – Part II

Liquid phase sintering of high speed steels seems to be a cheaper processing route in the manufacturing of tool steels if compared to the well-known and expansive hot isostatic pressing high speed steels process. In a previous work a M3:2 high speed steel was vacuum sintered from irregular water atomized powders and had its sintering temperature determined. In this work the same powder was uniaxially cold compacted and vacuum sintered by adding some small quantity of graphite (0.3%C in weight) to prevent porosity and loss of carbon which result from the sintering cycle. The samples from all these experimental procedures were uniaxially cold compacted and vacuum sintered at five different temperatures and had its densities evaluated. The microstructure was evaluated using optical-electronic techniques in order to investigate the best range of sintering temperature. At least five parallel samples were tested to each condition of sintering.

Transverse rupture strength of a PM tool steel

Powder Metallurgy has been reported as a suitable alternate processing route for the manufacture of tool steels. The advantage of this technique is in being able to obtain a refined and more uniform microstructure that improves properties such high wear resistance and toughness. A molybdenum containing AISI M3:2 tool steel, (trade name Sinter 23), manufactured from spherical gas-atomized powders by hot isostatic pressing followed by hot working was tested in three-point bending tests after various heat treatments. Transverse rupture strength (TRS) samples were cut and heat treated at four distinct austenitizing temperatures. Each austenitizing temperature was combined with three tempering temperatures, giving a total of twelve different hardening conditions. Hardness tests were carried out to establish correlations among the effectiveness of heat treatment, the hardness values and the TRS results. At least five parallel samples were tested in each heat treatment condition.

Friction Stir Welding of Aluminium Alloy Sheets

Aluminium alloy 7050 in a T7451 temper was friction-stir welded (FSW) to investigate the effects of different process parameters on the microstructure and mechanical properties. Butt joints were obtained in 10mm thick-sheets, keeping a constant rotational speed of 550 rpm. Weld power and torque were recorded for each weld in order to obtain the heat input of the process, since the final properties of the welds are strongly related to this variable. The joints were characterized by optical microscopy and microhardness indentation through the stir zone (SZ), thermo-mechanically affected zone (TMAZ), and heat affected zone (HAZ) at different cross section heights. The processing of FSW, the microstructure in FSW alloys and the factors influencing weld quality are introduced.

Transverse Rupture Strength of M3:2 High Speed Steel Produced through Conventional Casting and Powder Metallurgy Techniques

The main aim of this work is to study the influence of the heat treatment on the transverse rupture strength of three M3:2 high speed steel obtained by differents techniques. PM Sinter 23 obtained by hot isostatic pressing (HIP) of gas atomized powders, a vacuum sintered high speed steel obtained by uniaxial cold compaction and liquid phase sintering of M3:2 water atomized powders and a conventional (cast to ingot and hot work) VWM3C were submitted to hardening in order to determine the influence of this treatment on the transverse rupture strength. The two PM high speed steels and the conventional one were submitted to heat treatment of hardening with austenitizing temperatures of 1140, 1160, 1180 and 1200 °C and tempering at 540 and 560 °C. The effectiveness of the heat treatment was determined by hardness tests (Rockwell C hardness). The microstructure was evaluated by scanning eletronic microscopy (SEM). At least five samples of these three high speed steels were manufactured, austenitized, quenched and tempered as described above and fractured in three point bending tests in order to evaluate the influence of this treatment on the transverse rupture strength (TRS).

Low-Pressure Injection Molding Processing of AISI T15 High Speed Steel Powders

Low-pressure powder injection molding was used to obtain AISI T15 high speed steel parts. The binders used were based on paraffin wax, low density polyethylene and stearic acid. The metals powders were characterized in terms of morphology, particle size distribution. The mixture was injected in the shape of square bar specimens to evaluate the performance of the injection in the green state, and then sintered. The samples were injected under the pressures of 0.4, 0.5 and 0.7MPa and at temperatures varying from 110 to 150°C aiming the optimization of the process. The results of the variation of injection pressure were evaluated by measuring the density of the green parts. Debinding was carried out in two steps: first, the molded part was immersed in heptane to remove the major component of the binder and then heated to remove the remaining binder. A second step debinding and sintering were performed in a single step. This procedure shortened considerably the debinding and sintering time.