Nitrogen Addition to an O-1 Tool Steel

A new processing technique makes nitrogen alloying possible by adding nitrogen under elevated nitrogen pressure to prealloyed Fe-C ingots during continuous casting, producing a whole new class of precipitation-free, iron–carbon–nitrogen alloys. When both carbon and nitrogen bulk concentration levels exceeded 0.5 wt%, a duplex fcc-/(bcc-bct-) Fe microstructure resulted that is iron carbide- and nitride-free. With increasing carbon and nitrogen concentrations, there was an increase in the retained fcc-Fe phase. In cooling rate studies, increasing carbon and nitrogen concentrations shifted the knee of the fcc-Fe-to-bcc-Fe phase time–temperature–transformation (T–T–T) curve to longer times. Hardness, compression strength, and wear resistance increased with increasing carbon and nitrogen concentrations and were superior to iron–carbon alloys without the nitrogen addition.