Strain hardening behaviour in sintered Fe—0.8%C—1.0%Si—0.8%Cu powder metallurgy preform during cold upsetting

Abstract

Cold upsetting experiments were performed on sintered Fe—0.8%C—1.0%Si—0.8%Cu steel preforms in order to evaluate the strain hardening characteristics. Powder preforms of 86 per cent theoretical density and an initial aspect ratio of 0.4 were prepared using a suitable die and a 1 MN capacity hydraulic press. Sintering was carried out in an electric muffle furnace for a period of 90 min at 1150 °C. Each sintered compact was subjected to an incremental compressive loading of 0.04 MN until fractures appeared on the free surface. Experiments were performed with no lubricant and using graphite as a lubricant. The behaviour of the applied stress as a function of both strain and densification level exhibits a continuous enhancement over three different response modes. The first and third stage responses offer a high resistance to deformation, whereas the second stage shows virtually steady-state behaviour. The instantaneous strain hardening exponent ni and strength coefficient Ki of the steel preforms were calculated and found to continuously increase with an increase in the deformation and densification levels.