Valve seat inserts (VSI) operate in a highly aggressive environment. Valve seat insert alloys require resistance to abrasion and/or adhesion caused by the mating valve seat surface, resistance to the softening and degradation due to the high operating temperatures and resistance to the corrosion induced degradation caused by the combustion products.

Valve seat inserts are machined after insertion in cylinder heads. The cost of machining valve seat inserts is a major contributor to the overall cost of machining cylinder heads. This poses a major problem to valve seat insert alloy design because the hard material phases that endow the alloy with wear resistance also produce severe wear of cutting tools during the machining operations.

Sintered alloys have displaced cast alloys for valve seat insert for most passenger car engine applications. Powder metallurgy (pressing and sintering) is a very attractive VSI manufacturing process because of its alloying flexibility which enables the coexistence of very dissimilar phases such as carbides, soft ferrite or pearlite phases, hard martensite, Cu-rich phase etc., and its near-net shape capability that reduces machining costs.

Sintered valve seat insert alloys have evolved in response to the demands of internal combustion engines-higher power density that results in higher

thermal and mechanical loads, alternative fuels for reduced emissions and longer engine life. Those sintered alloys are primarily of four types: 1) 100% tool steel, 2) Pure iron or low-alloy iron matrix with the addition of particles of a hard phase to increase wear resistance, 3) High carbon, high chromium (>10 wt. %) steels, and 4) Co and Ni base alloys.

These materials have met most of the durability requirements.

However, all of them are difficult to machine, in spite of a the use of high percentage of added machinability agents.

Types 1,2 and 3 are high-carbide-containing materials. US Patents 6,139,599,5,859,376,6,082,317,5,895,517 and others describe iron base sintered alloys with hard particles dispersed in a mainly pearlite phase (5 to 100% pearlite) plus isolated fine carbides and self-lubricating compounds for exhaust valve seat applications.

Increasing the amount and size of carbides in the alloy, while increasing durability, is detrimental to processing (compressibility and green strength) and machinability of the finished valve seat insert. In addition, the strength of the sintered product is dramatically reduced by the presence of massive carbides or hard particles.

US patent 6,139,598 presents a valve seat insert material with a good combination of compressibility, high temperature wear resistance, and

machinability. The mixture used to manufacture this material is a complex blend of steel powder containing Cr and Ni (>20% Cr and <10% Ni), Ni powder, Cu, ferroalloy powder, tool steel powder and solid lubricant powder. While this material may bring significant improvements in compressibility and wear resistance, its high content in alloying elements suggests a high material cost (Ni, Tool steel, Cr rich steel powder, ferroalloys).

US patent 6,082,317 presents a valve seat insert material in which cobalt-based hard particles are dispersed in a matrix of an iron-based alloy. In comparison with conventional hard particles (carbides), cobalt-based hard particles are claimed to be less abrasive, resulting in reduced wear of the mating valve. It is stated that this material is suitable for applications requiring direct contact between the metallic surfaces of the valve and the valve seat, as used in internal combustion engines. Although Co alloys present a good balance of properties, the price of Co makes these alloys too costly for automotive applications.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention addresses all the shortcomings listed above by delivering a pressed-and-sintered alloy with superb machinability and high heat and wear resistance.

This invention solves the machinability problem by presenting a unique combination of high strength-low carbon martensitic matrix, fine dispersed carbides, machinability additives and a network of Cu rich phase filling the porosity.

The amount of hard particles dispersed in the hard martensitic matrix is relatively small, thus reducing the cost of the alloy.

According to the present invention a sinter-hardening alloy has a matrix comprising: 2 to 5wt. % Cr ; 0 to 3wt. % Mo; 0 to 2wt. % Ni and the remainder consists of Fe in which these elements are preferably fully prealloyed. 5 to 25wt. % tool steel is added to improve wear and heat resistance and at least one of the machinablity additives in the group of MnS ; CaF2 or MoS2 in an amount of 1 to 5 wt. %. In order to significantly improve the thermal conductivity, the pores are filled with Cu alloy in an amount of 10 to 25 wt. %, added by means of infiltration of compacts during sintering. Cu infiltration also improves the machinability of the alloy.

In order that the present invention may be more fully understood, key properties are presented and compared to prior typical valve seat insert material properties. The. powder blerrd composition of example materials is presented in Table 1 and the properties are given in Table 2.

Table 1: Powder Blend Composition of Example Materials Material Fe or Low Cu Tool C Solid Identification alloy steel wt. % or Steel ; wt. % Lubricant wt. % Infiltration wt. % graphite wt. % New 89.25 Infiltration 8.5 0.75 1.5 Material Alloy A 49.50 Infiltration 49.50 0.5 0.50 AlloyB 48. 37--------------48. 37 0. 26 3

In Table 1, Fe stands for base powder which is used in the mixture and which is straight iron powder or alloyed steel powder. Tool steel powder stands for the second component of the mixture and it is admixed as tool steel powder of M2 or M3/2 type. Cu is added by infiltration of the compact during sintering; graphite and solid lubricant are added in the mixture as elemental powders.

All the powders are mixed with evaporative lubricant, compacted at 6.8 g/cm3 and sintered at 1120°C (2050°F). Thermal treatment was carried out after sintering by tempering in air or nitrogen atmosphere at 550° C.

After processing, critical properties were determined on typical samples of each alloy. Machinability was evaluated by face cutting and plunge cutting of 2000 valve seat inserts manufactured with the example materials. Tool wear was measured every fifty cuts. Wear plotted vs. number of cuts and a linear regression analysis was performed. The slope of the regression line indicates the wear rate and was reported as a machinability criterion. In addition, the scar depth on the insert flank cutting edge was measured at the end of each machinability test.

Scar depths were also reported as an indication of the machinability of the tested materials.

A measure of the alloy hot wear resistance was obtained in a high temperature sliding wear rig. Ground rectangular bars of the test materials were fixed and an alumina ball was slid with a reciprocating motion on the ground flat

surface of the samples. The test samples were maintained at 450° C during the test.

The scar depth is indicative of the sample wear resistance at these conditions.

Hot hardness was measured at different sample temperatures by recording at least five readings at the same temperature and averaging the results.

Thermal conductivity values were calculated by multiplying the measured values of specific heat capacity, thermal diffusivity and density at a given temperature.

Table 2 summarizes the properties of the new material as compared to existing valve seat insert materials containing more than 5 times as much tool steel in their composition. The invented material ("New Alloy") machines 2.5 to 3.7 times better than the example materials with same hot wear resistance and very comparable hot hardness resistance.

Table 2 : Properties of Example Materials Property New Valve Seat Valve Seat Alloy Material A Marterial B Compressibility (green Density @ 50 tsi); g/cm3 6.89 6.79 6.86 Machinability Average Wear 8.31E-5 7. 00E-4 4.19E-3 Rate(um/Cut Average Wear 38 95 142 Scar Depth (um) Wear Resistance (Average Wear Scar 6.29 2. 71 6.51 Volume after Hot Wear Test) ; mm3 Thermal Conductivity Wm lIfil RT 42 46 32 Wm-1K-@300°C 41 46 27 Wiri 1K-@500°C 41 44 23 Hot Hardness HR30N RT 55 66 49 HR30N@300°C 50 62 47 HR30N 500°C 39 58 41

Considering that maximum expected operation temperature for an exhaust valve seat insert is approximately 350° C, the results presented in Table 2 demonstrate clearly that the new material will perform better than valve seat Material B and almost as well as valve seat Material A while displaying much higher machinability than Material A. The combined effects of machinability, cost, thermal conductivity and wear resistance make this material an ideal replacement of costly products for engine application as valve seat insert material.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described. The invention is defined by the claims.