Cryogenic treatment of tool steels: A brief review and a case report

Abstract

Tool steels used in marine industries demand for the effective approach to enhance their properties. Normally, conventional heat treatment is widely used to increase the performance of tool steels. However, this method cannot fully enhance the tool steel performance. On the other hand, cryogenic treatment is a supplementary process to the conventional heat treatment, which can promote the conversion of retained austenite to martensite and accelerate the precipitation of fine carbides. In this paper, a systematic review of cryogenic treatment of tool steels was presented. A wide range of useful investigations was reviewed, particularly in the details of the transformation of retained austenite to martensite and the precipitation of the fine carbides. A case study on a tool steel subjected to conventional heat treatment, conventional cold treatment, and deep cryogenic treatment was also given and discussed to give an insight in the cryogenic treatment of tool steels.