Effect of copper addition on the fatigue life of low alloy C-Mo powder metallurgy steel

The fatigue performance of three C-Mo based steels with copper content 0, 1 and 2%, fabricated using the powder metallurgy technique, was evaluated. Experimental results show that the addition of copper affects enhances the binding between the particles through liquid phase sintering but also increases the retained austenite content in the quenched steel. Substantial improvement in fatigue endurance limit of the C-Mo PM steel can be achieved by the addition of 1. wt.% copper to it.