Influence of the heat treatment on the microstructure and machinability of AISI H13 hot work tool steel

In this work, the influence of heat treatment on the microstructure and machinability of AISI H13 tool steel was investigated for the as-received (AR), water-quenched (Q), quenched and single-tempered (QST) and quenched and double-tempered (QDT) conditions. The machining tests were carried out through turning method at various cutting speeds. The results indicated that heat treatment conditions and the cutting speed affected the surface roughness of samples. However, cutting forces were not affected by steel microstructure and cutting speed except to those of water-quenched samples.