METHOD OF HEAT TREATMENT OF BEARING STEEL

摘要

This heat treatment of bearing steel comprises annealing and hardening. Hardening is carried out after annealing and after the manufacture of structural parts from this steel. The first part of the annealing process is heating of the steel at a rate of more than 1 °C/s to a temperature in the range between 750 °C and 900 °C. It is followed by holding at the temperature achieved for at least 400 seconds. This is followed by cooling at a rate higher than 0.02 °C/s to a temperature, at which austenite begins to transform to ferrite and carbides. In the next step, there is cooling to such temperature and at such rate that complete transformation of austenite to ferrite and carbides takes place at least in the desired location of the steel. The cycle of heating, holding and cooling is carried out at least once. Then the steel is cooled to the ambient temperature. In the preferred embodiment, the quenching temperature during subsequent hardening is lower than the quenching temperature of the conventionally annealed steel in question. The steel may be heated by induction.