Effect of carbon content on the properties of sintered steels doped with manganese and copper

The properties of sintered steels doped with manganese and copper and produced using copper- bearing ferromanganese master alloys are examined with respect to temperature and concentrations of the master alloy (3–10%) and graphite (0–1.0%) in the charge. It is shown that increase in the concentration of the master alloy and graphite leads to the relevant increase in steel strength. The hardness of steel with the minimum content of the master alloy (3%) becomes substantially higher when carbon is introduced and weakly depends on sintering temperature. If the concentration of the master alloy is higher (7 and 10%), the effect of sintering temperature on hardness noticeably increases, while the effect of graphite content substantially decreases. With increasing concentration of the master alloy, the hardness of the sintered steel becomes higher regardless of sintering temperature and graphite content of the charge.