Subcritical Spheroidization of Medium-Carbon 50CrV4 Steel

An investigation on subcritical spheroidization anneal of the cold-rolled 50CrV4 steel at 720 °C has been carried out. During spheroidization anneal, the lamellar cementite was gradually broken down and changed to spherical shape. With prolonging of soaking time, the amount of lamellar cementite decreases gradually, and that of the spheroidized cementite particle increases gradually. The relationship of the spheroidization ratio versus soaking time for the steel can be described by a typically sigmoid curve. Additionally, the cold rolling deformation accelerates the breakup of lamellar cementite and the formation of spheroidal cementite particles during spheroidization anneal of the steel. The more severe the deformation is, the more rapidly the spheroidization occurs. From the results of tensile and hardness test, the yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, and hardness decrease and the percentage elongation to failure increases rapidly during the first 2 h of spheroidization. Between 2 and 8 h, the yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, hardness nearly keep a constant, which are independent of the soaking time, whereas the percentage elongation to failure firstly increases and then decreases with prolonging of soaking time.