Evaluation of Mechanical Properties and Analysis of Rapidly Heat Treated M-42 High Speed Steel

M-42 is a molybdenum series high speed steel with better hot hardness and wear resistance, heat treated conventionally in a salt bath furnace with three preheating stages. Such methods involve long processing periods with more energy consumption. This study involves the rapid heat treating of M42 steel sample to temperature of 1260 °C with the microwave furnace followed by quenching the sample in  a salt bath at 550 °C and compared with the conventionally heat treated specimens of similar dimensions. As metal reflect microwaves, the Silicon carbide lining is used to heat the steel samples by radiation which is a good microwave absorber. The samples were double tempered conventionally and parameters such as hardness, wear resistance, micro structure, Scanning electron microscopy were taken and compared. It is observed that the heat treatment is done with substantial time and energy savings and minute improvement in mechanical properties of the steel specimen.