ACCELERATED CARBIDE SPHEROIDISATION (ASR) IN LOW-ALLOYED STEELS

Steel plastic ability restoring and softening is necessary part of many manufacturing processes, mainly in cases, when product final shape is achieved by cold forming. Steel softening is usually performed by soft annealing, which is time-consuming treatment lasting several hours or even tens of hours in some cases. However, it is possible to achieve carbide spheroidisation and grain recovery in much shorter time by ASR process (Accelerated carbide Spheroidisation and Refinement). This newly developed form of thermal treatment is able to spheroidise carbides in ferritic matrix during several tens of seconds or several minutes. Thus, it is possible to reduce significantly time and energetic demands of manufacturing process. This article deals with accelerated carbide spheroidisation of two kinds of low-alloyed steels with 0.2% C in form of cold-drawn wires. The aim of the thermal treatment was to decrease hardness and increase plasticity of the materials.