Journal of Materials Science, Vol.45, No.17, 4866-4870, 2010
Spheroidization of medium carbon steel fabricated by continuous shear drawing
This study was undertaken to propose a method of continuous shear drawing (CSD) for industrial applications to steel-wire manufacturing. The study compared the spheroidization behavior of medium carbon steel processed by CSD to that processed via conventional drawing. Microstructural observation revealed that the use of the CSD method was effective for deforming the pearlite colonies, resulting in wavy pearlitic cementites without noticeable cracks on the surface. After annealing treatment at a subcritical temperature of 973 K for 1 h, the CSD-deformed sample exhibited a uniform microstructure with a number of fine globular cementites that was greater in extent than that by drawing; this result was mainly due to the easy spheroidization triggered by the CSD strain.