• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.166-177
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• 1993

Bending fatigue strength tests were made for VC coated die steels which were coated by immersing in a molten borax bath and for hardened die steels which were quenched and tempered, in order to clarify the effect of VC coating at $1000^{\circ}C$ and $1025^{\circ}C$. The material used in this investigation was a representative cold and hot die steels STD11, STD61. The results obtained are as follows. 1) The endurance limit of VC coated die steels was a little lower than that of hardened die steels. It is considered to be mainly due to the decfl.lase of hardness in the substrates. Accordingly, the endurance limit reo covered almost to the level of hardened die steels by an additional diffusion treatment. 2) The initiation point of fatigue fracture of VC coated die steels in reversed bening was on the substrate just under the VC layer. Hence, the endurance limit is corrected to the hardness of this part. 3) But, there is a considerable scatter in this relationship and the endurance limit of VC coated die steels was a little lower than that of hardened die steels with equal hardness. These results suggest that the fatigue strength of VC coated die steels is determined not only by the hardness but also by other factors. For example. the residual stress in the substrate just under VC coating layer is one of the factors besides hardness which is mainly related to the retained austenite(${\gamma}_R$).

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2023

We investigated the effect of multiple tempering on the microstructure and mechanical properties of AISI 4340 steel. The austenitized and quenched AISI 4340 steels were tempered at 550, 600, and 650℃ for 1, 2, and 4 h by single-tempering (ST). The multiple tempering was conducted for 4 h by double-tempering (DT, 2 h + 2 h), and quadruple-tempering (QT, 1 h + 1 h + 1 h + 1 h). As tempering temperature increases, yield strength and ultimate tensile strength decrease and elongation increases due to recovery and recrystallization of martensite and coarsening of carbides. At 550℃, as the number of tempering cycles increases, the yield strength and tensile strength decrease at the expense of fracture elongation. At 600 and 650℃, the yield strength and tensile strength increase with increasing the number of tempering cycles while fracture elongation maintains similar values. The multiple tempering at the same tempering time of 4 h improves the modulus of toughness at all tempering temperatures, which is presumed to be due to the change in carbide precipitation behavior by multiple tempering.