2008 Volume 48 Issue 10 Pages 1473-1477
This study sifted the commercial AISI 440C steel powders by using the matrix proposed previously with addition of TiC powder (25, 33 and 40 wt%) to produce a new composite steel with high hardness and strength after powder metallurgy, sintering and heat treatment. The mixing was done by ball milling, sintered at three different temperatures: 1473 K, 1573 K and 1673 K, and followed by a series of heat treatments. The experimental results showed the highest TRS value at 1502.6 MPa, and porosity was decreased to 0.18% after 440C steel was added with 25 wt% TiC powders by sintering at 1673 K. All of the specimens after sintering and conventional heat treatment did not show improvement on the hardness and TRS, instead showed decreases.