Effects of applying electroshocking treatment at different stages of cold rolling-quenching-tempering process on microstructure and properties of M50 steel

Abstract

Electroshocking treatment (EST), an efficient and rapid material treatment method, promotes microstructure evolution and improves mechanical properties. This study incorporates EST into the conventional cold rolling-quenching-tempering process of M50 steel and investigates the influence and mechanism of applying EST at different stages of the process on the microstructure and mechanical properties. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the effect of EST on microstructure. The results show that EST can refine the grains of M50 (average reduction of 10.1% in grain size), homogenize the grain size distribution, reduce the dislocation density (20.9% in average), promote the dissolution of carbides in the matrix and distribute them more uniformly along the grain boundaries, resulting in the improvement of mechanical properties. The mechanical properties of the specimen with the process flow of rolling-quenching-tempering-electroshocking showed excellent performance, with an increase in hardness of 1.4%, tensile strength of 17.7%, and elongation at break of 24.3% as compared to the specimen without EST. The tensile properties of the specimen with the process flow of rolling-electroshocking-quenching-tempering showed the best performance, with an increase in tensile strength of 30.0% and elongation at break of 30.7% as compared to the specimen without EST.

Keywords

electroshocking treatment / M50 bearing steel / cold rolling / mechanical properties

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Central South University