The Effect of Cold Rolling on the Spheroidization Kinetics of High Carbon Pearlitic Steels

摘要

The microstructural evolution and softening behavior of hot rolled and cold rolled high carbon pearlitic steels with spheroidization annealing have been investigated. It was found that cold rolling prior to annealing accelerated the spheroidization process and gave more homogeneous distribution of spheroidized carbides. The activation energies for the process have been calculated from the data obtained experimentally. Self-diffusion of iron atoms within the iron matrix was proposed as the controlling mechanism for the spheroidization process of hot rolled steels, and the grain boundary assisted lattice diffusion for cold rolled steels.