Manufacturing, microstructure and wear resistance of novel hot extruded Fe based metal matrix composites

Abstract

Materials with high resistance against abrasive wear are of high interest for many tool applications, e.g. in mining industry. These materials usually contain a large amount of hard ceramic phases embedded in a metallic matrix and can only be manufactured by powder metallurgy, most often via hot isostatic pressing. Here a new manufacturing route via powder presintering and direct hot extrusion is presented, which enabled manufacturing of Fe based metal matrix composites with up to 30% of fused tungsten carbide (FTC, WC/W₂C) or titanium carbide (TiC). The matrixes chosen are hot and cold work tool steels. The manufacturing process is elucidated and microstructures formed are presented. The microstructure–property relation of the new Fe based MMC is discussed.

Keywords:

• HOT EXTRUSION
• METAL MATRIX COMPOSITES
• TOOL STEEL
• WEAR RESISTANCE
• X-RAY DIFFRACTION