Features of phase transformations in powder steels upon heating

Abstract

At present, powder materials are used in practically all branches of industry, from medicine to aerospace technology. This is a wide range of materials ranging from constructional and instrumental materials and ending with special-purpose materials and medical implants. Powder metallurgy methods are most often used where the manufacture of products with desired properties is impossible using traditional methods: casting, stamping, etc. Heat treatment is understood as a set of operations of heating, holding at high temperatures and cooling in order to change the structure and workability of the material, improve the combination of its mechanical and physical properties without changing the shape and size of products. Heat treatment is an effective method for improving the physical and mechanical properties and wear resistance of steel. The specific features of sintered steels (porosity, structural heterogeneity, high oxidizability, etc.) make it difficult to use the technological modes of heat treatment developed for cast steels, although the main regularities of the processes occurring during heating and cooling of compact steel can be transferred to sintered materials. Heat treatment of powder steels has a number of features, primarily due to residual porosity, as well as chemical and structural heterogeneity.