• Advances in materials Research
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.183-194
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• 2024

D3 tools steel and 440C stainless steel (SS) are normally being employed for application such as knife blade and cutting tools. These steels are iron alloys which have high carbon and high chromium content. In this study, lab work focused on the microstructural and corrosion behavior of D3 tools steel and 440C SS after went through heat treatment processes. Heat treatments for both steels were started with normalizing at 1020 ℃, continue with hardening at 1000 ℃followed by oil quenching. Cryogenic treatment was carried out in liquid nitrogen for 24 hours. The addition of cryogenic heat treatment is believed to increase the hardness and corrosion resistance for steels. Both samples were then tempered at two different tempering temperatures, 160 ℃ and 426 ℃. For corrosion test, the samples were immersed in NaCl solution for 30 days to study the corrosion behavior of D3 tool steel and 440C SS after heat treatment. The mechanical properties of these steels have been investigated using Rockwell hardness machine before heat treatment, after heat treatment (before corrosion) and after corrosion test. Microstructure observation of samples was carried out by scanning electron microscopy. The corrosion rate of these steels was calculated after the corrosion test completed. From the results, the highest hardness is observed for D3 tool steel which tempered at 160 ℃(54.1 HRC). In terms of microstructural analysis, primary carbide and pearlite in the as-received samples transform to tempered martensite and cementite after heat treatment process. From this research, for corrosion test, heat treated 440C SS sample tempered with 426 ℃possessed the excellent corrosion resistance with corrosion rate 0.2808 mm/year.