Study of Different Vacuum Heat Treatments on the Strength of a Low Alloyed Sintered Steel

Abstract

The present paper deals with the evaluation of different vacuum heat treatments on the microstructure of a low alloyed sintered Fe-[1.5 Cr-0.2 Mo]-0.6 C steel. Different gas pressures were applied on the material during cooling from the sintering temperature. The average cooling rates were calculated in the range of 1453 K to 673 K and were varying from 0.1 to 6 K/s, according to the gas pressure applied (0 to 600 kPa). Mechanical properties have been evaluated in terms of toughness, plasticity and hardness. The results show that increasing the nitrogen pressure resulted in an increased amount of bainite/martensite microstructure with high level of properties achieved.

Keywords

• powder metallurgy
• vacuum heat treatment
• microstructure
• martensite