Search

The effects of the sintering holding time and cooling rate on the microstructure and mechanical properties of nanocrystalline Fe-Cr-C alloy were investigated. Nanocrystalline Fe-1.5Cr-1C (wt.%) alloy was fabricated by mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering. Different process conditions were applied to fabricate the sintered samples. The phase fraction and grain size were measured using X-ray powder diffraction and confirmed by electron backscatter diffraction. The stability and volume fraction of the austenite phase, which could affect the mechanical properties of the Fe-based alloy, were calculated using an empirical equation. The sample names consist of a number and a letter, which correspond to the holding time and cooling method, respectively. For the 0A, 0W, 10A, and 10W samples, the volume fraction was measured at 5.56, 44.95, 6.15, and 61.44 vol.%. To evaluate the mechanical properties, the hardness of 0A, 0W, 10A, and 10W samples were measured as 44.6, 63.1, 42.5, and 53.8 HRC. These results show that there is a difference in carbon diffusion and solubility depending on the sintering holding time and cooling rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]