Influence of deep cryogenic treatment on dry sliding wear behaviour of AISI D3 die steel

In the present work AISI D3 steel which is generally used for making forming die and tools is subjected to cryogenic treatment in liquid nitrogen maintained at −196 °C for different holding time of 12, 24 and 36 h. The microhardness and dry sliding wear studies were conducted based on L₂₇ orthogonal array. The worn surface analysis was carried out using scanning electron microscope along with EDAX. The obtained results showed increase in microhardness with the increase in soaking time from 12 to 24 h which is mainly attributed to nucleation of carbides. The Analysis of variance showed that the applied load with 30.24% was the most dominating factor followed by cryogenic holding time (25.84%) while speed (20.64%) had minimal influence when compared to other parameters. The worn surface analysis revealed mild wear in the steel subjected to low soaking time of 12 h while exhibited severe wear for steel subjected to 36 h. (paper)