The preparation of H13 steel for TBM cutter and the performance test close to working condition

Abstract

The material of disc cutters is important to full-face tunnel boring machines (TBM). In recent years, disc cutters were optimized and tested by many scholars all around the world. H13(4Cr5MoSiV1) steel is widely used due to its excellent properties, especially in TBM disc cutters. In this paper, H13 steel with optimized composition was prepared and heat treatment. The high temperature compression of H13 steel was conducted at the temperatures ranging from 100 °C to 700 °C, with strain rate at 0.01 s-1. The stress-strain curves, Rockwell hardness and microstructure of H13 steel after compression were obtained and analyzed. The results showed that the compression strength and hardness decreased as the temperature increased; and the compression strength, hardness and ductility decreased rapidly between 600 °C and 700 °C, HR700 (the hardness of H13 steel at 700 °C) only reached 33.23 HRC. It is not recommended for TBM disc cutters to work in an environment over 600 °C.