HARDENABILITY CHARACTERISTICS OF P M ALLOY-STEELS/

The heat treatment response of P/M alloy steels is of growing interest as designers consider them for increasingly larger parts. Work was co nducted to determine the Jominy end-quench hardenability response of 3 4 P/M steel grades produced commercially, including steels produced fr om blended, prealloyed, or diffusion alloyed powders, copper infiltrat ed steels and powder forged steels. The hardenability tests were condu cted in accordance with ASTM Standard A255. The data contained in this paper, combined with P/M part producers internal manufacturing cost i nformation, will enable optimization of the manufacturing process by m aking tradeoffs in steel composition and density to attain the desired level of hardenability at lowest cost.