Effect of Sintering Holding Time and Cooling Rate on the Austenite Stability and Mechanical Properties of Nanocrystalline FeCrC Alloy

Abstract

The effects of the sintering holding time and cooling rate on the microstructure and mechanical properties of nanocrystalline Fe-Cr-C alloy were investigated. Nanocrystalline Fe-1.5Cr-1C (wt.%) alloy was fabricated by mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering. Different process conditions were applied to fabricate the sintered samples. The phase fraction and grain size were measured using X-ray powder diffraction and confirmed by electron backscatter diffraction. The stability and volume fraction of the austenite phase, which could affect the mechanical properties of the Fe-based alloy, were calculated using an empirical equation. The sample names consist of a number and a letter, which correspond to the holding time and cooling method, respectively. For the 0A, 0W, 10A, and 10W samples, the volume fraction was measured at 5.56, 44.95, 6.15, and 61.44 vol.%. To evaluate the mechanical properties, the hardness of 0A, 0W, 10A, and 10W samples were measured as 44.6, 63.1, 42.5, and 53.8 HRC. These results show that there is a difference in carbon diffusion and solubility depending on the sintering holding time and cooling rate.

Keywords

• fe-cr-c alloy
• sintering holding time
• cooling rate
• austenite stability
• nanocrystalline