Densification of AISI M2 high speed steel by means of capacitor discharge sintering (CDS)

Ball milled AISI M2 high speed steel (HSS) powders with nanometric crystalline grains have been consolidated by means of a new technique called capacitor discharge sintering (CDS) which employs one single high intensity current pulse (up to 100 MA/mm2in 10–20 ms) and high pressure (up to 400 MPa). The consolidated disks with diameter of 10 mm and 2–3 mm thickness, show low residual porosity and very fine microstructures. It is confirmed that the CDS process is well suited for the complete densification of AISI M2 powders without grain growth.