An Effect of Vacuum Annealing & Tempering Process on AISI431 Grade Stainless Steel Material

Stainless steel is well known for its good corrosion resistance, which are cheaply available in the market. Martensitic stainless steels find rare applications because of their high hardness and wear resistance in tempered condition. In order to decrease their hardness and promote the ductility AISI431 Grade martensitic stainless steel samples were subjected to vacuum annealing and vacuum hardening/tempering.3 samples were chosen and were subjected to vacuum annealing and named as VA1, VA2, and VA3. 3 samples were subjected to vacuum tempering and named as VT1, VT2, and VT3. All the samples underwent with a pin on the disc testing to analyse the wear behaviour. All the samples are subjected to various metallographic test to get the results like optical microscope results, hardness tests, scanning electron microscope results and (EDAX) Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy. An untreated sample is used for the comparison with the treated samples. The microstructure comprises of tempered martensite with haphazardly dispersed carbides in the framework.