A Performance Evaluation of Heat-Treated Tool Steels – A Review

Abstract

Tools or machine components undergo extensive damage due to abrasive wear. The contact between the working surface and hard particles that are mostly mineral particles initiates this action. Applying abrasion-proof materials or developing robust, protective and damage proof coatings on component surface is the means for extending their lifetime. The selection of the tool plays a major influence on productivity. One of the emerging tool materials is tool steel which is employed in a broad variety of applications. Alloying methods that create carbides, such as chromium, vanadium, molybdenum, and tungsten, are used to make tool steels. The impact of heat treatment techniques on different tool steels and also the cryogenic process is studied. Understanding how various tool steels behave under various heat treatment conditions is the main goal of the current study, which further looked at how heat treatment affects the microstructure of various tool sheets of steel, the influence of heat treatment on metallurgical properties and surface topography are also discussed here.