A New Cu-Alloyed Precipitation-Hardening Hot-Work Tool Steel

Abstract Hot-work tools for hot forming processes, such as die forging, are subject to complex loads that can often lead to premature tool failure. The present study attempts to reduce the main cause of failure of high-speed hot working tools, i. e., wear due to surface breakdown, with the aid of damage-tolerant microstructures. For this purpose, a hot-work tool steel is specifically alloyed with copper in order to form copper precipitations during the subsequent heat treatment, which increase the strength of the material and contribute to the reduction of dislocation movements. The aim is to close the property gap between the standardized direct-hardening and secondary-hardening hot-work tool steels.