Abstract
A detailed study has been carried out of the structures produced by the dynamic compaction of tool steel powder and used to deduce information on the processes occurring during compaction. Some of the compacting powder is seen to melt during compaction while subsequent solidification occurs so rapidly that metastable structures are produced. Rates of solidification may be determined by heatconduction calculations or from the details of solidification microstructure. In all cases solidification occurs extremely rapidly and structures and properties very similar to those produced by conventional rapid solidification processing of tool steels may be identified. Using such information of quenching rates it is possible to deduce in some detail the temperature variations suffered by the compacting material during the dynamic processing.
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