Preparation of FeCrMoC amorphous powders and microstructure and mechanical properties of their hot-pressed products

• Published in: Materials science and engineering 1987-11, Vol.95 (1-2), p.101-114
• Main Authors: Inoue, A., Arnberg, L., Oguchi, M., Backmark, U., Bäckström, N., Masumoto, T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0025-5416
• DOI: 10.1016/0025-5416(87)90502-7

FeC based amorphous powders with particle sizes smaller than 25 μm were prepared by atomizing an Fe16Cr8Mo18C alloy with the highest glass-forming capacity in FeCM systems (where M is a transition metal) by ultrasonic helium atomization. Hot-pressing the amorphous powders at temperatures of 1300–1350 K causes a fully dense material with a finely and homogeneously mixed structure of α′+γ+M 23C 6+M 6C+M 2C phases. The packing fraction of the hot-pressed alloy is about 100% and the particle size and inter-particle distance of the carbides are as small as 0.2–1.8 μm and 0.2–1.3 μm respectively. The hot-pressed alloy has a high hardness value, e.g. 1130 diamond pyramid number (DPN) at room temperature and 465 DPN at 1173 K, as well as a good wear resistance, comparable with the highest value of commercial wear-resistant high alloy steels. With these three desirable characteristics (high room temperature hardness, high temperature hardness and good wear resistance) the alloy prepared by hot-pressing the amorphous high carbon-high alloy steel powders is expected to be useful practically as a heat-resistant tool material.