Tribological behavior of high thermal conductivity steels for hot stamping tools

The paper investigates the tribological behavior of two new high thermal conductivity steel grades, by applying thermo-mechanical cyclic loads in the temperature range 600-800 °C. The results show that a material microstructure characterized by agglomerates of Mo allows better performances than the case of finer elements of Mo homogeneously distributed in the metal matrix, with reduced friction and abrasion wear more relevant at the lowest testing temperatures.