Papers by Author: Kuk Tae Youn

Abstract: In order to understand the melt-out mechanism of H13 die casting mould material, microstructural investigation was conducted for the immersion-tested surface in Al-alloy melt. The surface condition of H13 tool steel was modified by varying nitriding conditions and by surface blasting. In particular, long-term behavior of melt-out phenomena during immersion testing of up to 43 hours was focused in this article. It was observed that an ion-nitrided H13 surface showed higher resistance towards melt-out than a gas-nitrided or blasted surface. This was related to the surface layers that are normally formed by nitriding.

Abstract: For hot die steel, failure is mostly caused by heat checking and melt-out on its surfaces which are in contact with molten metals. In the present research, resistances to melt-out and heat checking of surface modified H13 hot die steels, such as gas nitriding(GN) and micro-blasting(MB), were investigated. The evaluation of melt-out behavior was carried out by measuring the mean depth from the original surface after immersion. To examine the thermal fatigue resistance, a cyclic thermal shock system consisting of induction heating and water spray quenching was constructed. The value of Lm is proposed as the index representing the susceptibility to crack initiation and propagation. The melt-out depth was the lowest for the GN treated surface. MB-GN and MB-GN-MB treated specimens also showed good resistance to melt-out. In the case of GN treatment, while the white layer was completely melted out, the diffusion layer still existed even after immersion for 43 hours. This implies that nitriding significantly reduced the rate of melt-out. From the total crack number, it is seen that crack initiation was reduced to the extent of half after surface treatment. This result means that the residual compressive stress and nitrided layer were beneficial to crack initiation resistance.

Abstract: The microstructures and mechanical properties of 17-4 PH stainless steel at each steps of heat treatment, such as homogenizing, solid solution treatment followed by aging treatment, longterm aging at 400 °C, and recovery treatment, in order to obtain a better understanding of the embrittlement phenomena on aging, was investigated. As the homogenizing treatment time increased, the length of δ-ferrite decreased and elongated shape of δ-ferrite turned to sphere shape with the decrease of volume fraction. The solution treated specimen mainly consists of lath martensite with a small fraction of elongated δ-ferrite. The spherical particles existed a little in the martensite matrix, while no precipitates were found in the δ-ferrite at the solution treated specimen. As the aging treatment temperature increased, the strength decreased while the toughness increased. The fcc Cu-rich particles precipitated in the δ-ferrite during the long-term aging at 400 °C after the solution heat treatment. This precipitation causes the aged hardening after long-term aging accompanied by decreases in elongation and charpy V-notch energy absorption. The strength and elongation was restored after recovery treatment and the fcc-Cu precipitated were almost dissolved into the δ-ferrite matrix.

Abstract: The Effect of die surface modification on the physiochemical melt-out phenomenon was investigated. To measure the melt-out resistance more accurately, the mean depth measurement method after immersion in molten Al-alloy was proposed instead of the conventional weight change method. The validity of the mean depth method was verified by the comparison with the field service test of core-pin. The several kind of nitriding, such as gas nitriding, ion nitriding, salt-bath nitriding and TNHT
process of PHILOS TECHNOLOGIES, INC were employed to change surface condition and their effects on melt out resistance were examined by the immersion test and the field service test of core pins. The melt-out depth was decreased with the nitriding treatments and in case of ion-nitrided specimen showed 2.8 times lower dissolution depth than as heat treated specimen. The white compound layer play a important role in the prevention of physiochemical reaction, therefore, the TNHT process, which does not form the white layer, was less effective in the view point of melt-out phenomenon only. The field test result using core-pins for producing automobile engine parts showed similar tendency with the mean depth method and this implies that the mean depth method reflects the melt-out resistance of the modified surfaces effectively.

Abstract: The influence of surface treatment such as nitriding, TNHT(Ti Nano Heat-treatment, PHILOS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.) and PVD coating on the thermal crack propagation behavior of hot work die steel was investigated. To examine the thermal fatigue resistance, the cyclic thermal shock system consisted of induction heating and water spray quenching unit was constructed and Lm is proposed as the index representing the susceptibility to crack initiation and propagation. Thermal stress depending on test temperature was also simulated by FEM. The TNHT specimen showed lower Lm value than as-heat treated specimen but, in the case of maximum and average crack length, the TNHT specimen exhibited higher value than those of as-heat treated specimen. This means that the small number of large cracks were initiated and propagated selectively in the TNHT specimen. This result can be caused by two contrary effects of diffusion layer, those are introduction of the residual compressive stress good for mitigation of thermal tensile stress and very high surface hardness harmful for crack initiation. However, Lm value of salt-bath nitriding specimen was very high due to the white layer in spite of the existence of diffusion layer.

Abstract: The influence of thermal fatigue test temperature on crack propagation behavior of the surface treated tool steel for die-casting was investigated. For this purpose, thermal fatigue system consisted of induction heating and water spray quenching unit was constructed to simulate the service condition and Lm is proposed as the index representing the susceptibility to crack initiation and propagation. The thermal fatigue tests were conducted at the maximum temperature of 600°C, 700°C and 720°C using as-heat treated or nitrided specimens. The ion nitrided specimen showed lower Lm value than as-heat treated at all test temperature. But in the case of maximum and average crack length, the ion nitrided specimen exhibited higher value than those of as-heat treated specimen.