Abstract
Shot peening treatment uses special steel shot media to impact the surface material at a high speed, thus resulting in a compressed and dense surface. The compressive stress provides higher resistance to thermal fatigue and stress corrosion cracking. To evaluate the effects of shot peening on thermal cracking and the mechanical properties of H13 tool steel, this study conducted impact, thermal fatigue and wear tests, as well as SEM microstructure and microhardness inspections. Experimental results showed that steel shot peening treatment, conducted for 30 min at 0·5 MPa on H13 tool steel reached the optimum for improving the microstructure and fatigue properties. The process can enhance the surface hardness to HV 561 and extend the limit of fatigue strength on H13 tool steel by two to three times. This technology can be successfully applied to die casting moulds to notably improve and extend tool life.
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