The ABAQUS ® commercial software was used to simulate by Finite Element Method (FEM) the stress and the strain fields due to the thermal and mechanical loads applied in the tool microstructure throughout hot forging operations. Therefore, the macroscale (loads applied in the tool) was adapted to the microscale (stress and strain developed in the microstructural features). Materials analyzed in this study, which are prospective to be used as tools, consisted of NbC and tool steel powders, which were mixed, and consolidated by SPS technique (Spark Plasma Sintering). NbC-Steel microstructure was firstly characterized by SEM and, thus it was meshed by OOF2 ® software (NIST). Subsequently, the microstructural characterization allowed to undergo evaluation of different aspects and critical stress and strain regions, which can favored microstructural damage in the tool material.

NbC com densificação de 95% e 494 GPa para o NbC com densificação de 99%. 4.Avaliações preliminares, mostraram que a metodologia adotada de avaliar a interface NbC-FeC_W pode ser bem-sucedida no estudo da difusão de ligantes para sinterização utilizando o SPS.