Abstract
To increase the wear resistance of tool steels, high contents of super-hard MC type carbides formed by Ti, V or Nb are desirable. Unfortunately, these carbides precipitate primarily from the melt at high temperatures. Thus, atomising such steels is not feasible with current technology because carbides precipitating in the melt may clog the nozzle. This problem can be avoided by atomising a melt that contains high amounts of carbide forming elements but no carbon. Subsequently the powder is mixed with graphite to provide the carbon necessary to form carbides and for the hardenability of the matrix. During hipping, graphite dissolves and the carbon is distributed evenly in the material. The phase distribution of a candidate cold work tool steel consisting of a stainless steel matrix with fine, well distributed niobium carbide precipitates is reported and compared with equilibrium calculations.
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