Compresibility and sinterability of HCx PM steel diluted with stainless steels

Abstract

HCx powder metallurgy steel contains in its composition high contents of Cr and C, and significant quantities of alloy elements typical of tool steels (Mo, V, W), to provide the corrosion resistance of stainless steel with wear resistance of tool steels. HCx appears to be a suitable material for applications in aggressive environments, as valve seat inserts in automotive engines. However, this steel presents a low compressibility leading to high production costs. In this work, some results carried out to improve the compressibility of HCx are presented. The way to attempt this improvement is the dilution of base material with two stainless steels, the ferritic 430LHC and the austenitic 316L. The powder mixes prepared were uniaxially pressed to study the compressibility. The sinterability was study by determining of density, hardness, transverse rupture strength (TRS) and microstructural evolution after vacuum sintering at different temperatures. As a result, better compressibility is observed in the mixes although not all of them present the properties required