Effect of hardening conditions on mechanical properties of high speed steels

Abstract

AbstractHardness and toughness are the main properties determining wear resistance and performance of high speed steel tools. The objective of the present paper was to study the effect of hardening conditions on the toughness of high speed steels, mainly concerning the hardening temperature and cooling rate during quenching. Several conditions were simulated in laboratory and industrial heat treatment furnaces and toughness was evaluated through the static bend test. Under the same tempering condition, the higher the hardening temperature, the higher the attained hardness. The results also point out a compromise situation between hardness and toughness, until 1200°C hardening temperature is reached; for temperatures over this value, the loss in toughness become more accentuated, without a considerable increase in hardness. The present paper also describes the mechanical properties of M2 high speed steel heat treated to lower hardness, necessary in some cold work tooling applications. In this case, hardeni...