Different products have different requirements for hardness
• Mechanical parts: such as gears, bearings, etc., need high hardness to ensure their wear resistance and fatigue resistance, in order to withstand large loads and frequent friction, to ensure the long-term use of precision and performance.
• Tool products: such as powder metallurgy tools, molds, etc., in order to achieve good cutting performance and long service life, must have sufficient hardness to resist wear and deformation during the cutting process.
Wear-resistant parts: In some harsh wear environment, such as mining machinery, metallurgical equipment wear-resistant liners, hammer heads, the material is required to have high hardness, in order to improve wear resistance, reduce replacement frequency, reduce costs.
Factors that affect hardness
• Material composition: Different alloying elements and ratios can significantly affect the hardness after sintering. For example, adding carbon, chromium, molybdenum and other elements can usually improve the hardness.
Firing process: including firing temperature, holding time, cooling rate, etc. Properly increasing the firing temperature and extending the holding time can help diffuse alloy elements and form solid solution, thus improving hardness. Rapid cooling may produce quenching effect, which can also increase hardness.
Subsequent treatment: such as quenching, tempering, carburizing, nitriding and other heat treatment processes can further improve the hardness and improve the comprehensive performance.
In powder metallurgy production, the hardness after sintering can be precisely controlled to meet the needs of different application scenarios by adjusting the material formula, optimizing the sintering process and adopting appropriate subsequent treatment according to the specific product use requirements.
