The effect of inter critical heat treatment on mechanical and wear properties of AISI 1015 steel

Abstract

ABSTRACT Dual-phase (DP) steels mainly consist of ferrite and martensite phases. In this paper, DP steel was developed by inter-critical heat treatment followed by water quenching using AISI 1015 steel which is a type of plain low carbon steel. After developing DP steel, the mechanical and wear properties of AISI 1015 have been investigated. Inter-critical heat treatment was done at four different temperatures 740°C, 770°C, 800°C, 830°C in a muffle furnace. After SEM, it was found that the percentage of martensite increases with the heating temperature in the dual-phase region followed by water quenching. The results revealed that inter-critical heat treatment increased the tensile and hardness properties but decreased the ductility as the temperature increased. For wear properties, it was concluded that the specimen heat-treated at higher temperature showed a higher wear rate due to lower ductility. This was due to higher ductility at a lower temperature in comparison to lower ductility at a higher temperature. So, basically, the percentage of martensite affects the properties of dual-phase steel.