Steel Superstrengthening Phenomenon as a Basis for Designing New Technologies

摘要

It is underlined that metallurgists are widely using alloying to increase service life of steel parts and improve mechanical properties of material. As a rule, alloy steels are quenched in oils. The steel superstrengthening phenomenon during very intensive quenching, especially within the martensite range, has been discovered. The discovered phenomenon allows engineers to design new technologies such as two or three step quenching (IQ-2 and IQ-3 processes). The scope of the presentation is to show the benefits of the new technologies. On the basis of the new technologies it is possible to use less alloy steel instead of alloy one. Instead of oils plain water can be used. It is shown that the service life of steel parts increases significantly. In the presentation the main attention is paid to optimal quenched layer. It can be achieved by optimizing chemical composition of steels. Several practical examples are presented.