Effect of refractory metal on the growth of austenitic grains in high-speed steel

Abstract

In this work, the influence of the most refractory metal, tungsten, on the process of growth of austenite grains during heating in annealed high-speed steel was investigated. High-speed steels were specially smelted for the experiment with different tungsten contents. The metallographic method determined three stages of austenite grain growth in the steels under study with increasing heating temperature. The slow growth of grains nucleated during the α→γ transformation was observed during the experiment, based on the migration of boundaries. In total, the average grain sizes of the studied high-speed steels increase slightly. Alloying tungsten into high-speed steel has a significant effect on grain growth. It should be noted that the level of hardening increases in proportion to the concentration of tungsten in the steel and the mass of the carbide phase turning into a solid solution.