2010-06-28 Pressing & Sintering

Lean diffusion alloyed steel for heat treated applications

While recently a large effort has been made to utilize sinter hardening for high performance components, a sizable portion still require the tradition quench and temper heat treatment process. Heat treatable alloys often contain high amounts of copper, molybdenum and nickel to achieve proper hardenability. With recent fluctuations in metal prices, these alloys have come under pressure from competing technologies. A newly developed lean diffusion alloyed material, D.AQ, has been developed to combine excellent properties in the heat treated condition with high compressibility, high workability and improved machinability in the sintered condition while maintaining the trademark stability and robustness of diffusion alloying. This paper will compare the newly developed diffusion alloyed material with other common PM heat treat alloys.