Metallurgical principles of cryogenically treated tool steels—a review on the current state of science

The cryogenic treatment of tool steels has transformed over centuries from black art to science, but the metallurgical principles responsible for increase in wear resistance, tensile strength, toughness, and stability are still disputed. Metallurgists comprehend how tool steels respond to cryogenic treatment, but they also understand that for many years, the cryogenic treatment of tool steels had the reputation of being a quick fix for poor heat treatment practice. During the cryogenic treatment of tool steels, the process modifies the carbon present in the tool steels. However, cryogenic treatment has not been widely adopted by the cutting tools industry due to lack of understanding of the fundamental metallurgical mechanisms and due to the wide variation in reported research findings. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to review the literature on metallurgical changes that occurred during the cryogenic treatment of tool steels to benefit the cutting tools industry. The prominent reasons found to be responsible for improving the mechanical properties of tool steels are transformation of retained austenite to martensite and precipitation of fine carbides.

[1]  D. Mohan Lal,et al.  Deep Cryogenic Treatment Improves Wear Resistance of En 31 Steel , 2008 .

[2]  M. Kalin,et al.  Influence of deep-cryogenic treatment on wear resistance of vacuum heat-treated HSS , 2006 .

[3]  S. Avner.  Introduction to Physical Metallurgy , 1964 .

[4]  A. Molinari,et al.  Effect of deep cryogenic treatment on the mechanical properties of tool steels , 2001 .

[5]  Wang Jun,et al.  Effect of cryogenic treatment on the matrix structure and abrasion resistance of white cast iron subjected to destabilization treatment , 2006 .

[6]  Jože Vižintin,et al.  Wear Behavior of Deep-Cryogenic Treated High-Speed Steels at Different Loads , 2006 .

[7]  G. Nagarajan,et al.  Effect of cryogenic treatment on distribution of residual stress in case carburized En 353 steel , 2008 .

[8]  G. Nagarajan,et al.  Enhancing the wear resistance of case carburized steel (En 353) by cryogenic treatment , 2005 .

[9]  D. Das,et al.  On the refinement of carbide precipitates by cryotreatment in AISI D2 steel , 2009 .

[10]  R. Barron,et al.  Cryogenic treatment of metals to improve wear resistance , 1982 .

[11]  Lin Xiaoping,et al.  Classic contributions: cryogenic treatment Deep cryogenic treatment of high speed steel: microstructure and mechanism , 2008 .

[12]  Kalyan Kumar Ray,et al.  Correlation of microstructure with wear behaviour of deep cryogenically treated AISI D2 steel , 2009 .

[13]  Xiaochun Wu,et al.  Hardness and toughness investigations of deep cryogenic treated cold work die steel , 2010 .

[14]  F. Meng,et al.  Role of Eta-carbide Precipitations in the Wear Resistance Improvements of Fe-12Cr-Mo-V-1.4C Tool Steel by Cryogenic Treatment , 1994 .

[15]  Kalyan Kumar Ray,et al.  Influence of temperature of sub-zero treatments on the wear behaviour of die steel , 2009 .

[16]  Harpreet Singh,et al.  Cryoprocessing of cutting tool materials—a review , 2010 .

[17]  Martin Pugh,et al.  Effect of cryogenic treatment on the mechanical properties of 4340 steel , 2007 .

[18]  R. C. Weast.  CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics , 1973 .

[19]  Debdulal Das,et al.  Influence of varied cryotreatment on the wear behavior of AISI D2 steel , 2009 .

[20]  Dry sliding wear of cryotreated multiple tempered D-3 tool steel , 2009 .

[21]  J. M. Alegre,et al.  Effect of low temperature tempering prior cryogenic treatment on carburized steels , 2006 .

[22]  S. Renganarayanan,et al.  Cryogenic treatment to augment wear resistance of tool and die steels , 2001 .

[23]  P. Stratton,et al.  Optimising nano-carbide precipitation in tool steels , 2007 .

[24]  Kalyan Kumar Ray,et al.  On the enhancement of wear resistance of tool steels by cryogenic treatment , 2008 .

[25]  Wayne Reitz,et al.  CRYOPROCESSING OF MATERIALS: A REVIEW OF CURRENT STATUS , 2001 .

[26]  Zbigniew Zurecki,et al.  Cryogenic Quenching of Steel Revisited , 2005 .

[27]  R. C. Weast.  Handbook of chemistry and physics , 1973 .

[28]  A. N. Popandopulo,et al.  Transformations in high-speed steels during cold treatment , 1980 .

[29]  K. Moore,et al.  Cryogenic Treatment of Three Heat-Treated Tool Steels , 1993 .

[30]  Álisson Rocha Machado,et al.  Performance of cryogenically treated HSS tools , 2006 .

[31]  K. Ray,et al.  Optimization of the duration of cryogenic processing to maximize wear resistance of AISI D2 steel , 2009 .

[32]  V. Firouzdor,et al.  Effect of deep cryogenic treatment on wear resistance and tool life of M2 HSS drill , 2008 .

[33]  Mark A.M. Bourke,et al.  Microstructure of cryogenic treated M2 tool steel , 2003 .

[34]  C A Fischbacher,et al.  Progress in Refrigeration Science and Technology , 1966 .

[35]  D. Das,et al.  Effect of Deep Cryogenic Treatment on the Carbide Precipitation and Tribological Behavior of D2 Steel , 2007 .