Investigating the effect of electric current flow on the wear behavior of 1.2080 tool steel during the deep cryogenic heat treatment

Deep cryogenic heat treatment is a supplementary process, which is performed in tool steels after quench and before temper regularly. In this study, the effect of the electric current flow through the deep cryogenically treated samples was investigated via the X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscope (EDX), hardness test, and pin-on-disk wear testing machine. Results showed that the deep cryogenic heat treatment improves the carbide percentage, distribution, hardness and wear resistance of the 1.2080 tool steel, as compared with those of the conventionally treated. Further improvement in the wear resistance and hardness were also observed due to the formation of some newly formed nano-sized carbides in the structure. It was also observed that the electric current flow leads to a decrease in this improvement due to its effect on the as-quench vacancies, which were ignored as powerful places for carbide nucleation during the deep cryogenic heat treatment. It was also shown that the predominant wear mechanism is a combination of adhesive and tribo-chemical wear.

► Electric current flow declines the carbide distribution and reduces its percentage during the deep cryogenic heat treatment.
► Increasing the current density and current voltage, increase the destructive effect of the electric flow.
► Electric current decreases the hardness and wear resistance of 1.2080 tool steel.
► Electric current reduces the as-quench vacancies during the cryogenic heat treatment.
► The predominant wear mechanism is a combination of adhesive and oxidative mechanisms.