Features of phase transformations in powder steels upon heating

At present, powder materials are used in practically all branches of industry, from medicine to aerospace technology. This is a wide range of materials ranging from constructional and instrumental materials and ending with special-purpose materials and medical implants. Powder metallurgy methods are most often used where the manufacture of products with desired properties is impossible using traditional methods: casting, stamping, etc. Heat treatment is understood as a set of operations of heating, holding at high temperatures and cooling in order to change the structure and workability of the material, improve the combination of its mechanical and physical properties without changing the shape and size of products. Heat treatment is an effective method for improving the physical and mechanical properties and wear resistance of steel. The specific features of sintered steels (porosity, structural heterogeneity, high oxidizability, etc.) make it difficult to use the technological modes of heat treatment developed for cast steels, although the main regularities of the processes occurring during heating and cooling of compact steel can be transferred to sintered materials. Heat treatment of powder steels has a number of features, primarily due to residual porosity, as well as chemical and structural heterogeneity.

Research of chromosilicated coatings on compact powder steels

Microstructures, chemical and phase compositions of diffusion chromosilicated coatings on powder steels 20, 45, У8 and У10 are investigated. The presence of Cr23C6 and Cr7C3 phases with up to 0,25 % Si is shown in these coatings. The distribution of diffusing chemical elements over the depth of the coating and at the interface with the matrix base is studied. Keywords: diffusion, coating, microstructure, chromosilication, powder steel, corrosion resistance [email protected]

Features of the formation of the structure and properties of powder steels with additives that activate diffusion processes during sintering

Effect of activating the sintering process of powder steel alloyed with nickel or chromium by grinding the initial powders and introducing alkali metal compounds was investigated. The kinetics of grinding the initial iron powders, Cr30, and a mixture of iron powders with 4 % nickel was studied. It is shown that, depending on the hardness of the powder, it is grinded in three or two stages. When grinding more hard powders, there is no stage of intensive deformation of particles and an increase in their size. Crystalline lattice defects resulting from grinding of powders accelerate diffusion processes. This reduces sintering temperature by 100–200 °С compared to the sintering temperature of steels from the initial powders, contributes to a homogeneous structure, reduces porosity by 4–17 %, and increase strength of powder steels by 1.5–1.6 times. The mechanism of the effect of sodium bicarbonate on the acceleration of diffusion of carbon, nickel and chromium into iron has been established. With the introduction of sodium bicarbonate under the action of water vapor, formed upon its decomposition to carbonate, thin oxide films are formed on iron particles, which are actively recovered in a protective-recovering atmosphere during sintering. This leads to formation of a metal contact between the particles, acceleration of the self-diffusion of iron atoms and the diffusion of alloying additives into iron by 5–7 times, depending on the sintering temperature and the amount of added additive. Sodium forms nanodispersed complex compounds of the ferritic type Na3Fe5O9 along the grain boundaries of the iron base, which provide grain refinement and the formation of a homogeneous structure. Changes in the structure of powder steel with the introduction of sodium bicarbonate cause an increase in its strength by 1.5–1.7 times. The results can be used to obtain structural products from alloyed powder steels.