MODIFICATION OF TRANSITION ZONE STRUCTURE OF HIGH-SPEED STEEL SURFACING ‒ SUBSTRATE BY ELECTRON-BEAM TREATMENT

The structural-phase states and defect substructure of transition zone of plasma surfacing with non-current flux-cored wire in the nitrogen medium of R2M9 high-speed steel on the substrate of medium-carbon steel 30HGSA in the initial state, after high-temperature tempering and electron beam treatment were analyzed using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The formed deposited layer with a thickness of ~5 mm has a frame-type carbide structure, which is not fractured during subsequent tempering and pulsed electron beams irradiation. Regardless of the state of the studied material, a martensitic structure with retained austenite, located along the boundaries of martensite plates and in the form of individual grains of submicron sizes, is formed in the “deposited layer – substrate” transition zone. Nanosized particles of the carbide phase of various morphologies (plates, globules, spheres), located along the grain boundaries of martensite crystals and austenite layers, were identified in the transition zone. Carbides Fe₃C, V₂C, W₂C, CrC, Cr₃₂C₂, Cr₇C₃, MoC, Mo₂C, as well as carbides such as Fe₃W₃C and Fe₆W₆C, the elemental composition of which is determined by the complex composition of the surfacing, were identified. Irradiation of the transition zone with a pulsed electron beam leads to high-speed hardening of the material with the formation of martensite structure of predominantly lamellar morphology. In the volume of martensite plates, particles of chromium carbide of composition CrC were detected.

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