Optimizing Wear Resistance and Impact Toughness in High Chromium Iron Mo-Ni Alloy

An alloy with carbon and chromium in the range of 2.0 to 2.5% and 20 to 25%, respectively, with the addition of Mo and Ni in the range of 1.0 to 1.5% each when heat-treated at a quenching temperature of 1010 °C and tempering temperature of 550 °C produces a hardness in the range of 54 to 56 HRC and a microstructure that consists of discontinuous bands of high volume (35-40%) of wear resistant primary (eutectic) carbides in a tempered martensitic matrix with uniformly dispersed secondary precipitates. This alloy has been found to possess adequate impact toughness (5-6 J/cm 2 ) with a wear resistance of the order of 3-4 times superior to Mn steel and 1.25 times superior to martensitic stainless steel with a reduction in cost-to-life ratio by a factor of 1.25 in both the cases.