High-speed steels: increasing wear resistance by adding ceramic particles

The main objective of this work was to develop new wear-resistant materials to be used in components for the automotive industry, and study the effect s of the ceramic particles on the hardness, bend strength and fracture toug hness of the composites, as compared to those of the base material. The com posite materials were produced by adding TiC and TiN particles to AISI M3/2 high-speed steel powder containing copper-phosphide and graphite, in order to obtain composite mixtures sinterable in the temperature range of from 1 140 to 1170 degrees C. It was found that the ceramic particles caused a sma ll increase in the macrohardness but a decrease in the bend strength, since they acted as crack initiators. The fracture toughness was not affected si gnificantly by the presence of the ceramic additions. (C) 1999 Elsevier Sci ence S.A. All rights reserved.