Influence of the Material Homogeneity of Components Made of Steel Grade 100Cr6 on Distortion

The influence of the material homogeneity of components made of steel SAE 52100 (100Cr6) on quench hardening distortion was investigated. The homogeneity was varied by electromagnetic stirring during casting, and by using spray formed semi-finished material. The distortion was identified at forged cylindrical rings in a designed experiment. The material homogeneity shows no significant influence on the resulting size and shape changes after single part hardening of symmetric cylindrical parts. Additionally the distortion of eccentrically extracted rings was investigated to decrease strain and increase material inhomogeneity of the samples. Even these samples show no influence on distortion by non-uniform distributions of the alloying elements. The independency of size and shape changes of the homogeneity of the local chemical composition might be a result of the uniform martensitic structure through the cross section of the investigated samples after quench hardening. So, distortion of other steel grades with lower hardenabilities or of components with other geometries might become influenced by the material homogeneity.