Abstract
The influences of cooling pressure of quenching process on the mechanical properties such as hardness, impact endurance and anti-thermal fatigue behaviour of STD61 steel were investigated. The specimens were heat-treated using a vacuum furnace in which they were austenitized at $1,030^{\circ}C$ for 1hour under the pressure of $10^{-3}$ torr and cooled with quenching gas of various pressure, i.e. 1, 2 and 6 bar. According to the observation on the specimens prepared with quenching from austenizing temperature, the mechanical properties of the samples with higher quenching pressure were better than those of prepared at lower quenching pressure. The samples prepared with high quenching pressure showed the more homogeneous microstructure with finer carbides. The size of carbides such as VC and (Fe, Cr)C in quenched specimens decreased with increasing gas quenching pressure. It is considered that the rapid cooling with pressure may restrict the formation and growth of carbide.
