Compared to the PM steel, the tool steel has a larger distance between the hard phases and the sliding abrasive particles are therefore able to remove more of the matrix before being impeded by the hard phases.
A worn surface of the tool steel subjected to CT testing is shown by Fig. 9c. As abrasive particles have more easy access to the exposed areas of the matrix compared to PM steel, a larger fraction of the matrix suffers from initial indentation. Fig. 9b and d shows cross sections of worn tool steel samples from the G65 test and the CT test, respectively.