SINTERING CHARACTERISTICS OF LOW -ALLOY STEELS

Abstract

The present investigation on the sintering characteristics of the low-alloy steels of composition, Fe - 1.75 Ni - 1.5 Cu - 0.5 Mo and 0.5 C, and containing 1 % excess of alloying additions individually were studied. In addition the effect of compacting pressure (3.1 to 7.8 t/cm2) , on sintering behaviour of low-alloy steels L were also carried out and the optimum compacting pressure was selected for this work on sintering, at sintering temperatures of 900 ,- 11200 C, in Hydrogen atmosphere. It was observed that the simultaneous additions of copper and tin does not lead to improved sintering characteristics of the low alloy steels in comparison to copper addition alone. The best combination of properties were achieved in the low-alloy steel having Fe - 1.75 Ni -2.5 Cu - 0.5 Mo and 0.5 C, composition and sintered at 11200 C. The second part of the investigation covers the effect of 0.5 Cr addition on the sinterability of above mentioned base alloy steel at different carbon levels (0. 24 to 0.50 5) . It has been noticed that such an addition decreased the hardness values of the base alloy steel only a little without disturbing its dimensional control.