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In the present study, the microstructure and mechanical properties of cast Fe-10Cr-1.5B (FCB) alloy after different heat treatments were studied. The results showed that the as-cast microstructure of FCB alloy consists of ?Fe, M(M=Cr, Fe, Mn)2(B, C) and M(M=Cr, Fe, Mn)7(C, B)3 type borocarbides, and small amounts of pearlite and austenite. After oil quenching treatment, metal matrix transformed into the martensite from the mixture of martensite, pearlite and austenite. There are many M(M=Cr,Fe,Mn)23(C,B)6 type borocarbide precipitates in the metal matrix, and eutectic borocarbide appears with an apparent disconnection and isolated phenomenon. When the quenching temperature reaches 1,050 oC, the hardness of FCB alloy is the highest, but the change of quenching temperature has no obvious effect on impact toughness of FCB alloy. After tempering, the eutectic microstructure of FCB alloy appears with a "two links" trend. With the increase of tempering temperature, the hardness of FCB alloy decreases gradually and impact toughness increases gradually. Cast FCB alloy oil-quenched from 1,050 oC and tempered from 200 oC has excellent combined properties; its hardness and impact toughness are 61.5 HRC and 8.8 J.m-2 respectively.

Influences of the tempering temperature on the microstructure, mechanical property and wear resistance of High-Boron High Speed Steel (HBHSS) roll materials were investigated by means of optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction, hardness measurement, impact tester, tensile tester and pin abrasion tester. The results show that the as-cast structure of HBHSS consists of a great amount of martensite and M2(B,C) and a few retained austenites and M23(B,C)6. After solution treated at 1,050 °C and followed by oil cooling, the amount of M23(B,C)6 carbo-borides in quenched HBHSS increases obviously and the macrohardness of the quenched HBHSS is 66 HRC, which is very close to the 65.8 HRC of as-cast HBHSS. On the whole, the hardness of HBHSS alloy shows a trend of slight decrease with increasing tempering temperature when tempered below 500 °C. While when above 500 °C, the hardness increases slightly as the tempering temperature increases and reaches a peak at 525 °C and then decreases obviously. The impact toughness of HBHSS has a tendency to increase as the tempering temperature increases. Tempering can improve the tensile strength and elongation of HBHSS, but a higher tempering temperature causes a slight decrease in both tensile strength and elongation. Excellent wear resistance can be obtained by tempering at 500 to 550 °C.

The critical points and time-temperature-transformation (TTT) curves of the isothermal transformation diagrams for a high-speed steel casting on a horizontal centrifugal casting machine had been determined experimentally in the study. The effects of quenching temperature on the microstructures and properties of centrifugal casting high speed steel (HSS) roll has been investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), light optical microscopy (LOM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) as well as using tensile, impact, and hardness tests. The results show that the HSS roll has excellent hardenability and its matrix structure can be transformed into the martensite after being quenched in the sodium silicate solution. The retained austenite in the quenching structure increases and the hardness decreases when the quenching temperature exceeds 1,040℃. The tensile strength and impact toughness of HSS roll increase once the quenching temperature is raised from 980℃ to 1,040℃. However, the tensile strength and impact toughness have no signifi cant change when the quenching temperature exceeds 1,040℃. The HSS roll quenched at 1,040℃ exhibits excellent comprehensive mechanical properties.