Achieving Synergistic Improvement on Wear Performance of D3 Cold-Work Steel by Modifying the Number and Order of Deep Cryogenic and Tempering Treatments

Boztepe A., GECÜ R.

Tribology Transactions, vol.68, no.2, pp.274-287, 2025 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 68 Issue: 2
  • Publication Date: 2025
  • Doi Number: 10.1080/10402004.2025.2462566
  • Journal Name: Tribology Transactions
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Aerospace Database, Applied Science & Technology Source, Chemical Abstracts Core, Communication Abstracts, Compendex, INSPEC, Metadex, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Page Numbers: pp.274-287
  • Keywords: AISI D3, cold work tool steel, Cryogenic treatment, tempering, wear
  • Yıldız Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

This study concentrates on the effects of several tempering processes both before and after the deep cryogenic process on the microstructural, hardness, and tribological characteristics of D3-type steel. The treatment contains hardening at 950 °C for 40 min, tempering at 250 °C for 2 h, and deep cryogenic treatment at −196 °C for 18 h. A ball-on-disk wear tester conducts wear tests against the aluminum oxide (Al2O3) ball under a load providing 1.9 GPa Hertzian contact pressure, simulating severe wear conditions. Double tempering-cryogenic treatment-double tempering (DTCDT) was the best heat treatment combination. There was a substantial decrease in wear rate in DTCDT samples by up to 80.3% owing to their homogeneously distributed finer carbide formation.