Enhanced wear resistance of blades made of martensitic steels: A study of diverse α′-matrix/carbide microstructures

A Comprehensive Understanding of Knife Cutting: Effects of Hardness, Blade Angle and the Micro-Geometry of Blade Edge on the Cutting Performance

“…Both M23C6 and V8C7 existed in the steel S35VN. The effect of these carbides on the wear resistance and hardness were discussed in a previous study [23]. In this curren study, the carbide phases were verified using X-ray diffraction with the Cu-Kα emission as displayed in Figure 3.…”

“…The raw steel plates for knife fabrication were purchased commercially: MSSs (3Cr13, 5Cr15MoV, 7Cr17MoV and 9Cr18MoV) were purchased from Taiyuan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. (Taiyuan, China), the powder steels 3V and S35VN from Crucible Industries LLC (New York, NY, USA) and M390 from Bohler-Uddeholm Corporation (Elgin, IL, USA). The chemical compositions of these steels were determined in the previous study [23], and the content of the major elements are listed in Table 1. Before mechanical processing, these steel plates were heat-treated following the procedures recommended by the producers (refer to the official data sheets), as shown in Figure 1b: firstly, they were homogenized at 840 • C and austenitized at a high temperature (1060~1150 • C), then martensitic transformation was triggered by the oil quench to improve the hardness and wear resistance.…”

“…It seems that the number and size distribution of the carbides increases with the carbon content in the steels. The types of carbides in these steels have been investigated using the Co-Kα emission, combined with elemental mapping analysis in a previous study [23]. Only M 23 C 6 carbide was found in the MSSs, and there was more M 23 C 6 carbide in the steels with a higher carbon content.…”

“…Materials 2023, 15, x FOR PEER REVIEW 9 of 17 disagreement may arise from the complexity of the abrasive wear process of the multiplephase martensitic steels. Further analysis [23] on the martensitic steels with α'-matrix/carbide microstructures reveals the abrasive resistance can also be greatly improved by either small carbides strongly bonded to the martensitic matrix or a strengthened matrix.…”

“…Since the blade edge turns from being sharp to blunt due to abrasive wear as the cutting proceeds, the instant sharpness and retention of sharpness can be defined by the total depth of the paper cards that have been cut in the initial 3 cycles and all 60 cycles, respectively. Up to date efforts have been made to study the improvement in the sharpness retention of steel blades via the CATRA technique, yet current studies only explore limited blade steels [20], and carbides have been found to play an important role in the cutting processes [22][23][24][25].…”