Manufacturing Technology 2023, 23(4):525-531 | DOI: 10.21062/mft.2023.061

Possibilities for Improvement of Mechanical Properties of High-Strength Medium-Carbon SiCr Steels

Pavel Salvetr ORCID...1, Jakub Kotous ORCID...1, Črtomir Donik ORCID...2, Aleksandr Gokhman ORCID...1, Zbyšek Nový ORCID...1
1 COMTES FHT a.s., Průmyslová 995, 334 41 Dobřany. Czech Republic
2 Institute of Metals and Technology (IMT), Lepi pot 11, 1000 Ljubljana. Slovenia

The 54SiCr6 high-strength low-alloyed steel with medium carbon content is studied in this work. Its excellent mechanical properties allow a wide range of applications as springs and vibration dampers. The high strength is usually achieved during heat treatment consisting of quenching and tempering. This manuscript represents several methods to further increase in mechanical properties. Firstly, the influence of microstructure before quenching and tempering was studied and enhanced plastic prop-erties were measured. Secondly, a thermomechanical treatment before quenching increased the strength. Finally, the use of strain assisted tempering caused a further strengthening effect compared to conventional tempering. All these methods improve mechanical properties, some increase strength and others ductility.

Keywords: Spring steel, 54SiCr6 steel, Microstructure, Mechanical properties
Grants and funding:

The paper was supported by ERDF Research of advanced steels with unique properties (No. CZ02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000836)

Received: May 14, 2023; Revised: July 28, 2023; Accepted: August 14, 2023; Prepublished online: August 15, 2023; Published: September 5, 2023  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Salvetr P, Kotous J, Donik Č, Gokhman A, Nový Z. Possibilities for Improvement of Mechanical Properties of High-Strength Medium-Carbon SiCr Steels. Manufacturing Technology. 2023;23(4):525-531. doi: 10.21062/mft.2023.061.
Download citation

References

  1. ISO 8458-1:2002. Steel wire for mechanical springs - Part 1: General requirements; International Organization for Standardization: Geneva, Switzerland, 2002.
  2. JENÍČEK, Š., OPATOVÁ, K., HAJŠMAN, J., VOREL, I. (2022). Evolution of Mechanical Properties and Microstructure in Q&P Processed Unconventional Medium-Carbon Silicon Steel and Comparison between Q&P Processing, Quenching and Tempering, and Austemperingfor. In: Manufacturing Technology, Vol. 22, No. 2), pp. 146-155. ISSN 12132489. Go to original source...
  3. JANDA, T., JIRKOVÁ, H., JENÍČEK, Š., KUČEROVÁ, L. (2019). Influence of Cooling Rate on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of 42SiCr Steel after Q&P Process. In: Manufacturing Technology, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 583-588. ISSN 12132489. Go to original source...
  4. JENÍČEK, Š., PEKOVIĆ, M., OPATOVÁ, K., VOREL, I. (2021). Relationship between mechanical properties in 42SiCr and 42SiMn medium-carbon steels and austempering temperatures. In: Manufacturing Technology, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 71-75. ISSN 12132489. Go to original source...
  5. HAFEEZ, M.A. (2019). Effect of microstructural transformation during tempering on mechanical properties of quenched and tempered 38CrSi steel. In: Materials Research Express, Vol. 6, No. 8, pp. 086552. ISSN 2053-1591. Go to original source...
  6. PRIMIG, S., LEITNER, H. (2011). Separation of overlapping retained austenite decomposition and cementite precipitation reactions during tempering of martensitic steel by means of thermal analysis. In: Thermochimica Acta, Vol. 526, No. 1-2, pp. 111-117. ISSN 00406031. Go to original source...
  7. SPEICH, G.R., LESLIE, W.C. (1972). Tempering of steel. In: Metallurgical Transactions, Vol. 3, No. 5, pp. 1043-1054. ISSN 0360-2133. Go to original source...
  8. NAM, W.J., CHOI, H.C. (1999). Effect of Si on mechanical properties of low alloy steels. In: Materials Science and Technology, Vol. 15, No. 5, pp. 527-530. ISSN 0267-0836. Go to original source...
  9. KWON, H., KIM, C.H. (1983). Tempered martensite embrittlement in Fe-Mo-C and Fe-W-C steel. In: Metallurgical Transactions A, Vol. 14, No. 7, pp. 1389-1394. ISSN 0360-2133. Go to original source...
  10. TAVARES, S.S.M., DA CUNHA, R.P.C., BARBOSA, C., ANDIA, J.L.M. (2019). Temper embrittlement of 9%Ni low carbon steel. In: Engineering Failure Analysis, Vol. 96, pp. 538-542. ISSN 13506307. Go to original source...
  11. ZIA-EBRAHIMI, F., KRAUSS, G. (1984). Mechanisms of tempered martensite embrittlement in medium-carbon steels. In: Acta Metallurgica, Vol. 32, No. 10, pp. 1767-1778. ISSN 00016160. Go to original source...
  12. SALVETR, P., GOKHMAN, A., DONIK, Č., NOVÝ, Z., KOTOUS, J., GODEC, M. (2023). EVOLUTION OF MICROSTRUCTURE AND EMBRITTLEMENT DURING THE TEMPERING PROCESS IN SiCrCu MEDIUM-CARBON STEELS. In: Materiali in Tehnologije, Vol. 57, No. 3, pp. 233-240. ISSN 1580-3414. Go to original source...
  13. SALVETR, P., GOKHMAN, A., SVOBODA, M., DONIK, Č., PODSTRANSKÁ, I., KOTOUS, J., NOVÝ, Z. (2023). Effect of Cu Alloying on Mechanical Properties of Medium-C Steel after Long-Time Tempering at 500 °C. In: Materials, Vol. 16, No. 6, pp. 2390. ISSN 1996-1944. Go to original source...
  14. KIM, B., BOUCARD, E., SOURMAIL, T., SAN MARTÍN, D., GEY, N., RIVERA-DÍAZ-DEL-CASTILLO, P.E.J. (2014). The influence of silicon in tempered martensite: Understanding the microstructure-properties relationship in 0.5-0.6wt.% C steels. In: Acta Materialia, Vol. 68, pp. 169-178. ISSN 13596454. Go to original source...
  15. HALFA, H. (2014). Recent Trends in Producing Ultrafine Grained Steels. In: Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering, Vol. 02, No. 05, pp. 428-469. ISSN 2327-4077. Go to original source...
  16. DLOUHY, J., HAUSEROVA, D., NOVY, Z. (2016). Influence of the carbide-particle spheroidisation process on the microstructure after the quenching and annealing of 100CrMnSi6-4 bearing steel. In: Materiali in tehnologije, Vol. 50, No. 1, pp. 159-162. ISSN 15802949. Go to original source...
  17. HAUSEROVA, D., DLOUHY, J., KOTOUS, J. (2017). Structure Refinement of Spring Steel 51Crv4 after Accelerated Spheroidisation. In: Archives of Metallurgy and Materials, Vol. 62, No. 3, pp. 1473-1477. ISSN 2300-1909. Go to original source...
  18. KOTOUS, J., DLOUHY, J., NACHAZELOVA, D., HRADIL, D. (2018). Accelerated Carbide Spheroidisation and Refinement in Spring Steel 54SiCr6. In: IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, Vol. 461, pp. 012044. ISSN 1757-899X. Go to original source...
  19. BARANI, A.A., PONGE, D., Optimized Thermomechanical Treatment for Strong and Ductile Martensitic Steels. In: Materials Science Forum, 2007, p. 4526-4531, ISBN 0878494286. Go to original source...
  20. ARDEHALI BARANI, A., PONGE, D., RAABE, D. (2006). Refinement of grain boundary carbides in a Si-Cr spring steel by thermomechanical treatment. In: Materials Science and Engineering: A, Vol. 426, No. 1-2, pp. 194-201. ISSN 09215093. Go to original source...
  21. MORITO, S., TANAKA, H., KONISHI, R., FURUHARA, T., MAKI, T. (2003). The morphology and crystallography of lath martensite in Fe-C alloys. In: Acta Materialia, Vol. 51, No. 6, pp. 1789-1799. ISSN 13596454. Go to original source...
  22. SALVETR, P., ŠKOLÁKOVÁ, A., KOTOUS, J., DRAHOKOUPIL, J., MELZER, D., JANSA, Z., DONIK, Č., GOKHMAN, A., NOVÝ, Z. (2023). Effect of Double-Step and Strain-Assisted Tempering on Properties of Medium-Carbon Steel. In: Materials, Vol. 16, No. 5, pp. 2121. ISSN 1996-1944. Go to original source...
  23. DU, C., HOEFNAGELS, J.P.M., VAES, R., GEERS, M.G.D. (2016). Block and sub-block boundary strengthening in lath martensite. In: Scripta Materialia, Vol. 116, pp. 117-121. ISSN 13596462. Go to original source...
  24. SUN, C., FU, P., LIU, H., LIU, H., DU, N., CAO, Y. (2020). The Effect of Lath Martensite Microstructures on the Strength of Medium-Carbon Low-Alloy Steel. In: Crystals, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 232. ISSN 2073-4352. Go to original source...

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.