The heat treatment of high speed steel tools consists of austenitizing, quenching
and tempering. The size of austenite grains formed during the hardening treatment is an
important factor in the final microstructure of the steel, and it also affects properties such as
wear resistance and toughness. This paper presents the austenite grain size, matrix
composition and hardness of commercial AISI M2, AISI T15, VWM3C and Sinter 23 high
speed steels that were austenitized and quenched from five distinct temperatures. This study
shows that increase in quenching temperature results in grain growth of steels such as AISI
M2 and VWM3C, obtained by the conventional method (cast to ingot and worked). The P/M
Sinter 23 high speed steel showed a slight grain growth (about 10%). This effect was not
observed in AISI T15 obtained by the powder metallurgy process.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of the stages and tempering
temperatures in the microstructure, tenacity and hardness of the vacuum sintered high speed steel
AISI T15. The material was uniaxial pressing at 700 MPa and sintered in a vacuum furnace at
1275°C. After that, different samples of the materials were submitted to the annealing treatment at
870°C, quenching at 1235°C and tempering (single, double and triple) at 540, 550 and 560°C.
Concluded the treatments, Rockwell C measurements of hardness were accomplished and, to
evaluate the toughness of the material, TRS (Transverse Rupture Strength) tests were done. Later
on, the materials were submitted to the metallographic preparation for microstructure analysis in
optical microscopy, SEM, EDX and X-ray diffraction. Finally, each property analyzed was
evaluated and correlated with the different tempering stages and temperatures accomplished.
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