Abstract

P/M high speed steels(1.28% C, 4.20% Cr, 6.40% W, 5.00% Mo, 3.10% V, bal. Fe) from two different venders were applied to powder compacting punch. The test results show that failure lifes were very different between two punches. These were no difference in volume fraction and mean size of carbides(MC or M6C) but non-metallic inclusions in two punches. Small amount of non-metallic inclusion in the punch did not greatly affect impact energy and transverse rupture strength (TRS). But, fatigue life was drastically decreased by non-metallic inclusions. These results show that fatigue failure was initated around non-metallic inclusion by cyclic load and the fatigue life was greatly affected by the presence of non-metallic inclusions in the punch.