Hot isostatic pressing (HIP): the state of the art & improvement on two steels

The present study is comprehensive of a brief critical review that deals with the effects related to the application of the Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) in a gas atmosphere and the fundamentals about its action on the material structure and its properties. The HIP can be profitably used to improve the strenght and the thoughness of the mechanical parts, especially when they are produced by a near net shape process. The foundry is certainly the most ancient near net shape process and it is still one of the most used to produce some parts for the automotive industry. The cast parts often show some chemical and structural disomogeneity, i.e. segregation and porosity, that are very detrimental for the mechanical performances of the material. The experimental task focused on the application of HIP treatment to two different cast steel, have pointed out the significant improvement of the mechanical properties and more homogeneous performances.