INFLUENCE OF COOLING RATE DURING QUENCHING ON IMPACT TOUGHNESS OF A HOT-WORK TOOL STEEL AT AMBIENT TEMPERATURE AND AT 200 °C

Gross cracking of die-casting dies with inferior toughness sometimes occurs through too low preheating temperature and/or too slow cooling during quenching. This study aimed to clarify the influence of cooling rate on the toughness of the hot-work tool steel grade Uddeholm Vidar Superior at ambient temperature and at 200 °C, a typical preheating temperature for aluminium die-casting dies. Toughness was measured through instrumented Charpy V-notch impact testing. The decrease in energy absorption with increasing cooling time between 800°C and 500°C both at both ambient temperature and 200 °C was pronounced. At ambient temperature, the decrease in total energy was a consequence of a decrease in initiation energy whereas, at 200 °C, the decrease in total energy was due to a decrease in propagation energy