Impact of Austenitizing Temperature on the Strength Behavior and Scratch Resistance of AISI H13 Steel

Abstract

Hot die steel properties can be worked by controlling its heat treatment, which produces major changes in hot die steel’s microstructure. In the present paper impact of austenitizing temperature on the scratch resistance, strength, and fracture behavior of AISI H13 die steel is analyzed. Samples at different austenitizing temperature 1000$$\,^{\circ }$$C, 1020$$\,^{\circ }$$C, 1040$$\,^{\circ }$$C, 1060$$\,^{\circ }$$C are prepared on which uniaxial tensile tests to fracture, impact toughness, indentation hardness, and scratch tests are done along with microstructure and fracture surface study. It has been observed that the strength of H13 die steel decreases as a result of the increase in grain size due to the rise in austenitizing temperature. However, the hardness increases with an increase in austenitizing temperature. Impact testing for toughness revealed that H13 die steel austenitized at 1000$$\,^{\circ }$$C produces finer grain with high toughness, and impact toughness decreases with increasing the austenitizing temperature. Predominant fracture mode displayed by H13 specimens was transgranular quasicleavage. During the scratch test, normal load, traction force, COF, and slope are recorded using Winducom 2010 software on a computer. Postscratch test surface profilometer and a metallurgical microscope are used to quantify the scratch wear for H13 die steel austenitized at different temperatures. It is found that H13 steel austenitized at 1060$$\,^{\circ }$$C has better scratch resistance compared to the one austenitized at 1000$$\,^{\circ }$$C.