Densification and mechanical properties of sintered powder metallurgy AISI 4340 steel preforms

Powder metallurgy (p/m) manufacturing route has wide industrial applications due to a host of techno-economic advantages. the present investigation has been undertaken to develop and study the characteristics of hot forged aisi 4340 high strength low alloy steels by using elemental powders through powder metallurgical techniques. the four different aspect ratios namely 0.25,0.50,0.75 and 0.90 were prepared by using 1 mn capacity hydraulic universal testing machine. the green compacts have been sintered at 1100±10°c in hydrogen atmosphere and immediately forged at 1050±10°c by friction screw press. some of the forged steels were homogenized at 1050±10°c for 1hr,2hrs and 3hrs in an electrical muffle furnace. the forged and homogenized aisi 4340 steels were subjected in to densification studies and mechanical properties evaluation. lower aspect ratio preforms such as 0.25 and 0.50 exhibited better densification properties. two hours homogenized forged steels exhibits better mechanical properties. © 2006-2011 asian research publishing network (arpn).