Abstract
Cryogenic treatments are usually carried out immediately after quenching, but their use can be extended to post tempering in order to improve their fracture toughness. This research paper focuses on the influence of post-tempering cryogenic treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of tempered AISI M2, AISI D2, and X105CrCoMo18 steels. The aforementioned steels have been analysed after tempering and tempering + cryogenic treatment with scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction for residual stress measurements, and micro- and nano-indentation to determine Young’s modulus and plasticity factor measurement. Besides the improvement of toughness, a further aim of the present work is the investigation of the pertinence of a novel technique for characterizing the fracture toughness via scratch experiments on cryogenically-treated steels. Results show that the application of post-tempering cryogenic treatment on AISI M2, AISI D2, and X105CrCoMo18 steels induce precipitation of fine and homogeneously dispersed sub-micrometric carbides which do not alter hardness and Young’s modulus values, but reduce residual stresses and increase fracture toughness. Finally, scratch test proved to be an alternative simple technique to determine the fracture toughness of cryogenically treated steels.
Highlights
Cryogenic treatment is widely used to enhance the mechanical and physical properties of tool steels, hot work steels, and high carbon steels
According to literature [1,2,3,4], the greatest improvement in properties is obtained by carrying out the deep cryogenic treatment between quenching and tempering
Perez et al [8] reported the importance of cryogenic treatments to increase toughness, thermal fatigue resistance, and wear resistance of hot work steel (AISI H13 as example) in order to maximize their lifetime
Summary
Cryogenic treatment is widely used to enhance the mechanical and physical properties of tool steels, hot work steels, and high carbon steels. Perez et al [8] reported the importance of cryogenic treatments to increase toughness, thermal fatigue resistance, and wear resistance of hot work steel (AISI H13 as example) in order to maximize their lifetime. These benefits are achieved by deep cryogenic treatment because it decreases retained austenite content and it promotes the precipitation of fine carbides uniformly dispersed in martensite matrix, as reported by Sola et al [9] and Gavriliuk et al [10].
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