Microstructure evolution and kinetic analysis of DM hot-work die steels during tempering

► Hardness of the DM steels decreases continuously with increasing temperature. ► Increasing temperatures results in intra-lath carbides precipitate and coarsen significantly. ► The values of n indicate a growth mechanism in coarsening of large spheroids on dislocations. ► Mn in DM steels dissolves into carbides and retards the coarsening of carbides at high temperature.