MECHANOMAKING OF HIGH-SPEED STEEL AISI M2 - POWDER CONSOLIDATION

AISI M2 powders were produced from the elements by mechanomaking, a ro om temperature process driven by high energy ball milling. The as-mech anomade powders with relative densities 0.5, were consolidated by cold and then hot isostatic pressing. Fully dense solids with carbide size s around 20 nm are obtained after Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) at 950 degrees C, while the matrix is constituted of a very fine array of cry stallites below 10 nm. An as-quenched hardness of 69 HRC was obtained and a Hall-Petch behavior was observed for Vickers hardness. No eviden ce of residual austenite was found in either as-HIPed or quenched samp les. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.