Effect of tempering temperature on the mechanical properties of cast L35HM steel

Abstract

A possibility to control the strength, hardness and ductility of the L35HM low-alloy structural cast steel by the applied tempering temperature is discussed in the paper. Tests were carried out on samples taken from the two randomly selected industrial melts. Heat treatment of the cast samples included quenching at 900 °C, cooling in an aqueous solution of polymer, and tempering at 600 and 650 °C. The obtained results showed that the difference in the tempering temperature equal to 50 °C can cause the difference of 121 MPa in the values of UTS and of 153 MPa in the values of 0.2%YS. For both melts tempered at 600 °C, the average values of UTS and 0.2%YS were equal to 995 MPa and 933 MPa, respectively. The values of EL and RA did not show any significant differences. Attention was drawn to large differences in strength and hardness observed between the melts tempered at 600 and 650 °C. Despite differences in the mechanical properties of the examined cast steel, the obtained results were superior to those specified by the standard.