Meilinda Nurbanasari, Panos Tsakiropoulos, and Eric J. Palmiere, Microstructural evolution of a heat-treated H23 tool steel, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 22(2015), No. 3, pp. 272-284. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-015-1071-5
Cite this article as:
Meilinda Nurbanasari, Panos Tsakiropoulos, and Eric J. Palmiere, Microstructural evolution of a heat-treated H23 tool steel, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 22(2015), No. 3, pp. 272-284. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-015-1071-5
Meilinda Nurbanasari, Panos Tsakiropoulos, and Eric J. Palmiere, Microstructural evolution of a heat-treated H23 tool steel, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 22(2015), No. 3, pp. 272-284. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-015-1071-5
Citation:
Meilinda Nurbanasari, Panos Tsakiropoulos, and Eric J. Palmiere, Microstructural evolution of a heat-treated H23 tool steel, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 22(2015), No. 3, pp. 272-284. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-015-1071-5
The microstructure and the stability of carbides after heat treatments in an H23 tool steel were investigated. The heat treatments consisted of austenization at two different austenizing temperatures (1100℃ and 1250℃), followed by water quenching and double-aging at 650℃, 750℃, and 800℃ with air cooling between the first and second aging treatments. Martensite did not form in the as-quenched microstructures, which consisted of a ferrite matrix, M6C, M7C3, and MC carbides. The double-aged microstructures consisted of a ferrite matrix and MC, M6C, M7C3, and M23C6 carbides. Secondary hardening as a consequence of secondary precipitation of fine M2C carbides did not occur. There was disagreement between the experimental microstructure and the results of thermodynamic calculations. The highest double-aged hardness of the H23 tool steel was 448 HV after austenization at 1250℃ and double-aging at 650℃, which suggested that this tool steel should be used at temperatures below 650℃.