Effects of Austenitisation Temperature and Multiple Tempering on the Microstructure and Impact Toughness of a 5 Wt. % Cr Cold Work Tool Steel

The microstructure and properties of a 5 wt.% Cr cold work tool steel were studied after austenitisation at 1020°C, 1050°C or 1075°C followed by single, double and triple tempering treatments at 525°C. The microstructures were investigated with scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction and phase transformations were studied by dilatometry. Furthermore, hardness and Charpy un-notched and V-notched impact toughness testing was performed and results were correlated to observed microstructures. With higher austenitisation temperature, the martensite and bainite start temperatures were lowered resulting in microstructures containing a higher volume fraction of retained austenite. Retained austenite transformed into martensite on cooling from the tempering temperature. Specimens that were austenitised at 1050°C or 1075°C and tempered twice contained fresh martensite. Applying a third tempering was therefore required to guarantee a fully tempered microstructure. The second tempering resulted in an increase of the un-notched impact energy while the third tempering did not have a pronounced effect. A triple tempering procedure could be preferable when austenitising at high temperatures to avoid undesirable fresh martensite in the tool microstructure.