Research on eliminating liquid carbides in hot work die steel H13

Abstract The liquid carbides in hot work die steel H13 are formed by the mechanism of selective crystallization during the solidification process of the steel. Liquid carbides damaged the continuity of the steel matrix, which reduced the ductility and toughness of the material and formed crack sources during the service process of cold and hot cycles. Liquid carbides accelerate the fatigue failure of the mold. This study comprehensively applied high-temperature diffusion annealing and matched with high forging ratio isotropic forging, post forging normalizing, and isothermal spheroidizing annealing treatment to eliminate liquid carbides in H13 steel and obtain a fine and uniform spheroidized structure and laying the organizational foundation for the final quenching and tempering heat treatment.