JP5358875B2 - Steel member cooling method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for cooling a steel member capable of suppressing the development of strain after high temperature heat treatment more than the conventional method. <P>SOLUTION: In the method for cooling the steel member after performing the heat treatment, with which the steel member is raised to austenizing temperature or higher; in a prescribed period from the start of cooling to the steel member, a decompressed cooling which cools the atmospheric gas in the decompressed state at lower than the atmospheric pressure, is performed. The decompressed cooling is desirable to be performed while stirring the atmospheric gas in the decompressed state at lower than the atmospheric pressure. The decompressed cooling is desirable to be performed at least till wholly completing the transformation of the structure in the steel member. The decompressed state of the atmospheric gas in the decompressed cooling is desirable to be in the range of 0.1-0.65 bar. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a cooling method after high-temperature heat treatment of a steel member.

  For example, steel members such as gears are often subjected to carburizing and quenching as a process for increasing the surface hardness while maintaining toughness. The carburizing and quenching process is a process of increasing the surface hardness while securing the toughness of the core by performing a quenching process after performing a carburizing process to increase the surface carbon concentration in a state where the steel member is heated to the austenitizing temperature or higher. It is.

  As a conventional carburizing and quenching process, an oil quenching method has been employed immediately after carburizing for a long time using a large heat treatment furnace equipped with an oil quenching tank on the outlet side. The reason for using oil as the coolant during quenching is to suppress distortion due to relatively gentle cooling compared to water. However, even with oil quenching, steel members that have been carburized and quenched by the above-described conventional methods are difficult to eliminate the problem of distortion, and carburizing and quenching is required for members that require high dimensional accuracy. Later, processes such as cutting, grinding and polishing were required.

  In addition, the conventional carburizing and quenching process requires a long time carburizing process using a large heat treatment furnace as described above, and thus the processing time is long and the energy consumption is large. For this reason, it has been desired to shorten the processing time and energy consumption required for carburizing and quenching, and to further reduce the size of the carburizing and quenching equipment itself.

  Under such a background, it is conceivable to apply an induction hardening method (refer to Patent Document 1) in which the entire part is quenched instead of being quenched as a quenching process after the carburizing process. However, the distortion generation cannot be sufficiently suppressed by simply applying the induction hardening process. This is due to distortion that occurs immediately after the carburizing process and during cooling before quenching.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-131133

  This invention is made | formed in view of this conventional problem, and it aims at providing the cooling method of the steel member which can suppress generation | occurrence | production of the distortion after high temperature heat processing compared with the past.

The first aspect of the present invention is a cooling method that is performed before subjecting a steel member to induction hardening , and after performing a heat treatment to raise the temperature of the steel member to an austenitizing temperature or higher , at least below the A1 transformation point. In the cooling method of gradually cooling the steel member to a temperature,
For a predetermined period from the start of cooling of the steel member, vacuum cooling is performed in which the atmospheric gas is gradually cooled in a state where the pressure is lower than atmospheric pressure (hereinafter also referred to as reduced pressure slow cooling as appropriate),
During the cooling under reduced pressure, the steel member cooling method is characterized in that the steel member is cooled under a condition in which the stirring speed of the atmospheric gas is increased after the temperature of the steel member becomes equal to or lower than the A1 transformation point.
The second aspect of the present invention is a cooling method performed before subjecting a steel member to induction hardening , and after performing a heat treatment to raise the temperature of the steel member to an austenitizing temperature or higher , at least below the A1 transformation point. In the cooling method of gradually cooling the steel member to a temperature,
For a predetermined period from the start of cooling of the steel member, vacuum cooling is performed in which the atmospheric gas is gradually cooled in a state where the pressure is lower than atmospheric pressure,
During the cooling under reduced pressure, the steel member cooling method is characterized in that cooling is performed under a condition in which the pressure of the atmospheric gas is increased after the temperature of the steel member becomes equal to or lower than the A1 transformation point.

In the cooling method of the present invention, as described above, reduced-pressure cooling is performed in a predetermined period from the start of cooling of the steel member to cool the atmospheric gas in a state where the atmospheric gas is reduced from the atmospheric pressure. Thereby, compared with the case where atmospheric gas is cooled in an atmospheric pressure state, generation | occurrence | production of the distortion of a steel member can be suppressed.
That is, when the atmospheric gas is stirred in a reduced pressure state, the difference in the cooling effect between the upstream and the downstream of the circulating atmospheric gas can be reduced compared to the case where the atmospheric gas is stirred in an atmospheric pressure state. That is, when cooling slowly at normal atmospheric pressure, heat exchange proceeds and cooling of the member to be cooled starts just by bringing the member to be cooled into contact with the cooling gas in atmospheric pressure. In this case, the upwind and the downwind are caused by aggressive gas agitation or gas convection by heat, resulting in a difference in cooling rate. Due to the difference in cooling rate, a temperature difference of the member to be cooled occurs, and heat treatment distortion occurs. On the other hand, by setting the cooling gas in a reduced pressure state, the heat exchange rate is slow in the first place, and it is difficult for a difference in cooling rate to occur. Therefore, when reduced pressure gradual cooling in which the cooling gas is in a reduced pressure state is employed, the cooling proceeds relatively uniformly, so that heat treatment distortion is less likely to occur. Even in the case where stirring is not performed at all, in the reduced pressure state, the difference in cooling effect due to retention of atmospheric gases having different temperatures can be reduced as compared with the case of atmospheric pressure.

Therefore, if the cooling method of this invention is used, generation | occurrence | production of distortion can be suppressed rather than before and the quality of the steel member with severe dimensional accuracy can further be improved.
And this cooling method is applicable not only to the heat processing presupposing the carburizing process mentioned later but when implementing the cooling process in the case of the various heat processing which does not perform a carburizing process.

As a heat treatment method of a steel member using the cooling method of the present invention as a reduced pressure cooling step, a vacuum carburizing step of carburizing the steel member in a carburizing gas under reduced pressure,
In cooling the steel member that has finished the vacuum carburizing step in a cooling gas, a reduced pressure cooling step for cooling the cooling gas in a state where the cooling gas is reduced to a pressure lower than the atmospheric pressure;
There is a heat treatment method for a steel member, including a high-frequency quenching step in which a desired portion of the cooled steel member is induction-heated and then water-quenched.

  The heat treatment method for the steel member employs the vacuum carburization treatment as the carburization treatment step, the induction hardening step as the quenching treatment step, and the vacuum cooling that is the cooling method of the present invention between both steps. This is a method that actively incorporates processes. This makes it possible to perform carburizing and quenching that is equal to or higher than that of the prior art, greatly suppress the occurrence of distortion, and further shorten the processing time compared to the prior art.

  That is, as the carburizing process, a vacuum carburizing process is performed in which the steel member is carburized in a carburizing gas under reduced pressure. In this vacuum carburizing, the carburizing process can be performed with a relatively small amount of carburizing gas while maintaining the inside of the high-temperature carburizing furnace in a reduced pressure state, so that the carburizing process can be performed more efficiently than in the past.

  Moreover, as a hardening process, the induction hardening process of water quenching is performed after the desired part of a steel member is induction-heated. In this induction hardening process, the entire steel member is not heated, but only the desired portion, that is, the portion whose strength is to be improved by quenching, is rapidly heated by utilizing the characteristics of induction heating, and the portion is quenched. As a result, it is possible to greatly suppress the occurrence of distortion during the quenching process compared to the case of quenching the entire steel member as in the prior art, and the shape before the induction quenching process can be substantially maintained even after quenching. It becomes possible.

  In this induction hardening process, water is used as a quenching coolant and water quenching is performed. Thereby, compared with the case of the conventional oil hardening, a cooling capability can be improved and it becomes possible to heighten the strength improvement effect by quenching. Moreover, since the improvement of this quenching ability is obtained, even if the degree of carburizing treatment such as the carburizing depth in the vacuum carburizing process is reduced, this can be compensated by the improvement of the quenching ability. Therefore, by combining the induction hardening process and the vacuum carburizing process, it is possible to shorten the carburizing time in the vacuum carburizing process and improve efficiency.

On the other hand, even if the induction hardening process having a high distortion suppressing effect is employed, if the steel member itself before the process is distorted, it is difficult to obtain a highly accurate steel member. Such a problem is solved by the cooling method of the present invention, which is the above-described reduced-pressure cooling step performed between the vacuum carburizing step and the induction hardening step.
That is, in the reduced pressure cooling step, that is, the cooling method of the present invention, in cooling the steel member in a high temperature state after the vacuum carburizing step in the cooling gas, the cooling gas is reduced in pressure below atmospheric pressure. Cooling. Thereby, compared with the case where cooling gas is cooled in an atmospheric pressure state, generation | occurrence | production of distortion of a steel member can be suppressed.

  In other words, when the cooling gas is stirred during cooling, the cooling gas is reduced in pressure to reduce the difference between the cooling rate of the circulating cooling gas on the upstream side and the downstream side as compared to the atmospheric pressure state. Can do. That is, when cooling slowly at normal atmospheric pressure, heat exchange proceeds and cooling of the member to be cooled starts just by bringing the member to be cooled into contact with the cooling gas in atmospheric pressure. In this case, the upwind and the downwind are caused by aggressive gas agitation or gas convection due to heat, resulting in a difference in cooling rate. Due to the difference in cooling rate, a temperature difference of the member to be cooled occurs, and heat treatment distortion occurs. On the other hand, by setting the cooling gas in a reduced pressure state, the heat exchange rate is slow in the first place, and it is difficult for a difference in cooling rate to occur. Therefore, when reduced pressure gradual cooling in which the cooling gas is in a reduced pressure state is employed, the cooling proceeds relatively uniformly, so that heat treatment distortion is less likely to occur. Even in the case where stirring is not performed at all, in the reduced pressure state, the difference in cooling rate due to the residence of the cooling gas having different temperatures can be reduced as compared with the case of atmospheric pressure.

By utilizing the effect of the reduced pressure of the cooling gas, the steel member subjected to the reduced pressure cooling process can suppress the occurrence of distortion, and the high frequency quenching process can be performed while maintaining high dimensional accuracy. Can proceed. And thereby, the steel member after hardening can also be made highly accurate with few distortions, utilizing the merit by the induction hardening process mentioned above.
Therefore, if the above heat treatment method is used, the occurrence of distortion can be significantly suppressed as compared with the conventional case, and the effect of carburizing and quenching can be obtained efficiently.

The vacuum carburizing step described above is a step of carburizing the steel member in a carburizing gas under reduced pressure as described above. In this case, the reduced pressure state is preferably in the range of 0.001 to 0.1 bar. When the pressure reduction during carburization is less than 0.001 bar, there arises a problem that expensive equipment is required to maintain the degree of vacuum. On the other hand, when it exceeds 0.1 bar, soot is generated during carburizing, which may cause a problem of uneven carburization concentration.
As the carburizing gas, for example, acetylene, propane, butane, methane, ethylene, ethane, or the like can be applied.
Moreover, a well-known method is applicable as the said induction hardening process.

Moreover, although the said pressure reduction cooling process is performed with respect to the steel member of the high temperature state which finished the vacuum carburizing process, it does not necessarily need to continue until completion of cooling. At least after entering a low temperature range where there is almost no effect on the occurrence of distortion, perform cooling at atmospheric pressure after releasing the reduced pressure state, or cooling in a state of positively increasing the pressure above atmospheric pressure instead of the above reduced pressure cooling. May be.
Further, even during the above-mentioned reduced-pressure cooling, it is possible to relax the reduced-pressure conditions in the middle or change the stirring conditions. Rather, it is industrially preferable to change the conditions so that the cooling efficiency can be improved in a low temperature range where the risk of occurrence of distortion is reduced.

The end time of the reduced pressure cooling can be managed by the temperature of the steel member or the cooling time. The optimum conditions vary depending on the type of steel member, the amount to be processed at one time, the type of cooling gas, the capacity of the cooling gas agitator, etc. Therefore, it is preferable to obtain the control value by experiment and follow it.
When the end time of the above-mentioned decompression cooling is determined by temperature, for example, it can be set as a time when a predetermined temperature of 500 ° C. or lower is reached. If the cooling is performed under conditions that can suppress the occurrence of strain to at least 500 ° C., the above-described effects can be sufficiently exhibited.

Further, the above-mentioned reduced-pressure cooling has a higher distortion suppressing effect than that in the atmospheric pressure state without stirring the reduced-pressure cooling gas. It is good to prevent.
That is, the reduced pressure cooling is preferably performed while stirring the cooling gas in a state where the cooling gas is reduced to a pressure lower than the atmospheric pressure . Thereby, the distortion suppression effect can be further enhanced.

Moreover, it is preferable to perform the said pressure reduction cooling until all the structure transformation is completed at least before the structure transformation by the cooling of the said steel member starts . That is, when a steel member is cooled from an austenite state to room temperature, it always involves a structural transformation, but distortion is likely to occur during the structural transformation. In particular, if the cooling conditions during the tissue transformation vary from site to site, distortion is likely to occur. For this reason, it is preferable to complete the structural transformation of the steel member during the period of the reduced-pressure cooling.

Further, the reduced pressure state of the cooling gas in the reduced pressure cooling is preferably in the range of 0.1 bar to 0.65 bar . There is a problem that the decompression device becomes too expensive to make the decompression state less than 0.1 bar. On the other hand, when it exceeds 0.65 bar, there exists a problem that the said effect by the pressure_reduction | reduced_pressure of cooling gas decreases.
Therefore, the reduced pressure state of the cooling gas in the reduced pressure cooling is more preferably in the range of 0.1 bar to 0.3 bar. The effect by said pressure reduction can be heightened especially by setting it as 0.3 bar or less.

Moreover, during the said reduced pressure cooling, after the temperature of the said steel member becomes below A1 transformation point, it can cool on the conditions which raise the stirring speed of the said cooling gas . That is, since the reduced pressure cooling is performed in a reduced pressure state, the cooling efficiency is lower than that in a case where the reduced pressure cooling is performed at a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure. Therefore, after the temperature of the steel member enters the temperature range below the A1 transformation point that does not affect the occurrence of distortion, the cooling efficiency can be improved even slightly by increasing the stirring speed of the cooling gas. As the simplest method, there is a method in which the stirring speed is reduced to 0 or the minimum speed at the initial stage of the vacuum cooling process, and then the stirring speed is increased after the temperature of the steel member becomes equal to or lower than the A1 transformation point. is there. Thereby, after the temperature of the said steel member becomes below A1 transformation point, a cooling capability improves and the whole cooling time can be shortened. Moreover, as a method of increasing the stirring speed, a method of increasing at a stretch may be used, but a method of gradually increasing is more preferable.

Further, during the reduced-pressure cooling, the cooling can be performed under the condition of increasing the pressure of the cooling gas after the temperature of the steel member becomes equal to or lower than the A1 transformation point . In this case, the cooling rate can be increased by increasing the pressure of the cooling gas after the temperature of the steel member enters the temperature region below the A1 transformation point at which the strain generation is not affected, and the overall cooling time is shortened. Can do. Of course, a method of increasing the pressure of the cooling gas can be taken together with the method of increasing the stirring speed.
Further, the pressure increase during the reduced pressure cooling is performed in a range lower than the atmospheric pressure. Moreover, although the pressure increase may be performed at a stretch, it is more preferable to gradually increase the pressure. As described above, it is not hindered to increase the pressure to atmospheric pressure or higher after completing the reduced-pressure cooling.

In the reduced pressure cooling, various cooling gases different from the carburizing gas in the vacuum carburizing step can be used as the cooling gas. In particular, the cooling gas is preferably nitrogen gas (N ₂ gas). In this case, it can cool, suppressing the oxidation of a steel member.
Of course, as the cooling gas, various known gases can be selected according to the quality required for the steel member.

  The steel member is preferably a non-tempered steel that obtains mechanical strength or hardness by precipitation strengthening of vanadium carbonitride or transformation strengthening of bainite structure after the vacuum carburizing step and the vacuum cooling step. The so-called non-tempered steel as described above can effectively exert the effect by the application of the heat treatment method.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the steel member is a non-tempered steel whose hardness inside the member that does not reach carburization increases by 50 to 150 in the value of Vickers hardness Hv after the vacuum carburizing step and the vacuum cooling step. That is, the non-tempering in which the difference between the Vickers hardness of the steel member before performing the vacuum carburizing step and the vacuum cooling step and the Vickers hardness of the steel member after performing these steps is 50 to 150 Hv It is preferable to use steel. Thereby, the strength characteristics equivalent to or higher than those obtained when carburizing and quenching conventional steel for carburizing by a conventional method can be easily obtained.

Specifically, steel having the following chemical components can be applied as the non-heat treated steel.
That is, the chemical composition of the steel member is, in mass%, C: 0.1 to 0.6%, Si: 0.1 to 0.6%, Mn: 0.5 to 3.0%, Cr: 0 0.1 to 2.0%, Mo: 0 to 0.3%, V: 0 to 0.3%, S: 0 to 0.05%, with the balance being Fe and inevitable impurities Steel (hereinafter referred to as basic steel) can be used.

  The C content is preferably 0.1 to 0.6% as described above. When the C content is less than 0.1%, there is a problem that sufficient carbonitrides are not generated. On the other hand, when the C content exceeds 0.6%, the hardness increases and the machinability decreases. There's a problem.

  Moreover, it is preferable that Si content shall be 0.1-0.6%. Si has hardening which improves the pitching life of a gear by improving the temper softening resistance of the hardened layer. When the Si content is less than 0.1%, the curing is not obtained so much. On the other hand, in order to prevent the carburizing property from being deteriorated, it is preferable to suppress the amount of Si added, and from this viewpoint, the Si content is preferably set to 0.6% or less.

  Moreover, it is preferable that Mn content shall be 0.5 to 3.0%. Mn is an element effective for improving hardenability. The effect can be obtained by setting the Mn content to 0.5% or more. On the other hand, when the Mn content exceeds 3.0%, a martensite structure is generated in the core structure, and there is a possibility that the strain becomes large.

  Further, the Cr content is preferably 0.1 to 2.0%. By setting the Cr content to 0.1% or more, the temper softening resistance of the quenched layer can be improved. On the other hand, when the Cr content exceeds 2.0%, the toughness may deteriorate due to the formation of Cr-based carbides.

  Further, the Mo content is preferably 0 to 0.3%. Mo may not be added. If added, the hardened layer is toughened and the bending fatigue strength is improved. In order to obtain the curing, the content is preferably 0.01% or more. On the other hand, even if the Mo content exceeds 0.3%, the effect is saturated, so the upper limit is preferably 0.3%.

  The V content is preferably 0 to 0.3%. V does not need to be added, but if it is added, the effect of precipitation of carbonitride or the effect of transformation strengthening of the bainite structure is obtained and the steel is strengthened. In order to exert this effect, addition of 0.01% is necessary. On the other hand, even if the V content exceeds 0.3%, the effect may be saturated and the economy may be impaired.

  The S content is preferably 0 to 0.05%. S may not be included, but 0.005% or more is preferable for improving machinability. However, if it exceeds 0.05%, forgeability is impaired, so 0.05% or less is preferable.

  As a more preferable non-tempered steel, the chemical composition of the steel member is, in mass%, C: 0.22 to 0.26%, Si: 0.15 to 0.35%, Mn: 1.40 to 1 .60%, Cr: 0.40 to 0.60%, Mo: 0 to 0.3%, V: 0 to 0.3%, S: 0 to 0.05%, the balance being Fe and inevitable There are non-tempered steels made of mechanical impurities.

  Further, the chemical composition of the steel member is, in mass%, C: 0.11 to 0.15%, Si: 0.15 to 0.35%, Mn: 2.10 to 2.30%, Cr: 0 .90 to 1.10%, Mo: 0 to 0.3%, V: 0 to 0.3%, S: 0 to 0.05%, with the balance being Fe and inevitable impurities Steel can also be suitably applied.

  Furthermore, the chemical composition of the steel member is, in mass%, C: 0.2 to 0.3%, Si: 0.2 to 0.6%, Mn: 1.4 to 2.0%, Cr: 0 2 to 0.6%, Mo: 0 to 0.4%, V: 0.05 to 0.25%, S: 0 to 0.05%, with the balance being Fe and inevitable impurities Tempered steel can also be used.

  Further, the chemical composition of the steel member is, in mass%, C: 0.2 to 0.3%, Si: 0.4 to 0.6%, Mn: 1.4 to 2.0%, Cr: 0 .4 to 0.6%, Mo: 0 to 0.1%, V: 0.05 to 0.25%, S: 0 to 0.05%, with the balance being Fe and inevitable impurities It is also preferable to use tempered steel.

  Further, the chemical composition of the steel member is, in mass%, C: 0.2 to 0.3%, Si: 0.4 to 0.6%, Mn: 1.4 to 2.0%, Cr: 0 4 to 0.6%, Mo: 0.3 to 0.4%, V: 0.05 to 0.25%, S: 0 to 0.05%, the balance being Fe and inevitable impurities It is also preferable to use non-tempered steel.

These non-tempered steels further limit the chemical components of the basic steel described above, so that the effects of the addition of each element are more clearly exhibited.
That is, the C content is preferably further limited to a range of 0.22 to 0.26%, 0.11 to 0.15%, or 0.2 to 0.3%. By limiting to these ranges, the strength of the core portion can be ensured, and the effect of suppressing the deterioration of toughness and machinability can be obtained more reliably.

  Si is more preferably limited to a range of 0.15 to 0.35%, or 0.2 to 0.6%, and more preferably 0.4 to 0.6%. By limiting to these ranges, the effect of improving the temper softening resistance of the hardened layer and the effect of suppressing the deterioration of carburization can be obtained more reliably.

  Further, Mn is preferably further limited to a range of 1.40 to 1.60%, 2.10 to 2.30%, or 1.4 to 2.0%. By limiting to these ranges, it is possible to more reliably obtain improvement in hardenability and temper softening resistance and suppress martensite structure formation.

  Moreover, Cr is limited to the range of 0.40 to 0.60%, 0.90 to 1.00%, or 0.2 to 0.6%, and further 0.4 to 0.6%. Is preferred. By limiting to these ranges, it is possible to more reliably obtain an effect of ensuring improvement in hardenability and temper softening resistance and suppressing toughness deterioration due to generation of Cr-based carbides.

  Further, the Mo content is preferably limited to 0 to 0.3%, more preferably 0 to 0.1%, or 0.3 to 0.4%. By limiting to this range, it is possible to further suppress the economic deterioration.

  Further, the V content is preferably limited to 0.01 to 0.3%, more preferably 0.05 to 0.25%. By limiting to this range, the effect of refining the structure can be obtained more reliably.

  In place of the above-mentioned non-heat treated steel, for example, JIS standard steel such as S15C, S20C, S35C, S45C, SCM415, SCM420, SCM440, SCr415, SCr420, SCr440, SNCM220, etc., used as steel for machine structure is applied. It goes without saying that it can be done.

  Further, when the steel member is an automobile drive system component, the heat treatment method is particularly effective. As drive system parts for automobiles, for example, there are gears, ring-shaped members, and other parts in an automatic transmission. These parts are required to have both high partial strength characteristics and high dimensional accuracy. Therefore, by applying the above-described excellent heat treatment method, the manufacturing process can be rationalized and the cost can be reduced, and the quality of the product can be improved.

  Next, as a steel member invention, there is provided a steel member characterized in that the steel member according to the present invention is subjected to a heat treatment by the heat treatment method, and the residual stress on the outermost surface is a compressive residual stress of 200 to 1500 MPa. is there. This steel member is excellent in strength characteristics and dimensional accuracy by being manufactured using the above-described excellent heat treatment method. In particular, since water quenching is performed after induction heating, a compressive residual stress in the above range can be obtained as compared with the case of normal carburizing quenching. And by this high compressive residual stress of 200-1500 MPa, the bending fatigue strength and the like become superior to the conventional one.

Example 1
A heat treatment method in which the steel member cooling method according to the present embodiment is applied as a reduced pressure cooling step will be described with reference to FIGS.
In this example, a ring-shaped steel member 8 which is used as part of an automatic transmission for (ring gear), a conventional carburizing method (comparative method) for the heat treatment method (the inventive method) and a comparison of this example To evaluate the occurrence of distortion. As shown in FIG. 3, the steel member 8 to be treated in this example is provided with a tooth surface 81 on the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical main body 80, and the tooth surface has a high hardness and a very roundness. It is an important part.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, the heat pattern A in the method of this embodiment is compared with the heat pattern B in the comparison method. In the figure, time is plotted on the horizontal axis and temperature is plotted on the vertical axis, and the temperature of the steel member during the carburizing and quenching process is shown as heat patterns A and B.

As is known from the heat pattern A in the figure, this example method is heated to 950 ° C. which is a carburizing temperature, and then held at that temperature for 49 minutes to perform the vacuum carburizing step a1, and then over 40 minutes. A vacuum cooling step a2 is performed in which the vacuum is cooled to a temperature of 150 ° C. or lower, followed by a high-frequency quenching step a3 in which rapid quenching is performed by high-frequency heating to a quenching temperature of 950 ° C., followed by water quenching.

  On the other hand, as is known from heat pattern B in the figure, the comparative method is heated to 950 ° C., which is a carburizing temperature, and held at that temperature for 220 minutes to perform a normal carburizing step b1, and then the quenching temperature. After holding at 850 ° C., a quenching step b2 of oil quenching is performed. Further, in the comparative method, the post-washing step b3 for washing off the coolant (oil) adhering during oil quenching and the tempering step b4 for the purpose of removing residual stress are performed. It should be noted that the strain evaluation, strength evaluation, and residual stress evaluation described later were performed in a state after the tempering step b4.

Next, the heat treatment equipment 5 for carrying out the present embodiment method and the carburizing and quenching equipment 9 for carrying out the comparison method will be briefly described.
As shown in FIG. 2 (a), the heat treatment equipment 5 for carrying out the method of this embodiment includes a pre-washing tank 51 for washing steel members before carburizing and quenching, a heating chamber 521, a vacuum carburizing chamber 522, And a vacuum carburizing and slow cooling device 52 provided with a reduced pressure cooling chamber 523, an induction hardening machine 53, and a magnetic flaw detector 54 for inspecting defects.

  As shown in FIG. 2 (b), the carburizing and quenching equipment 9 for carrying out the comparison method includes a pre-washing tank 91 for cleaning steel members before carburizing and quenching, and carburizing for heating, carburizing and diffusing. A long carburizing furnace 92 provided with a furnace 921 and a quenching oil tank 922, a post-washing tank 93 for cleaning steel members after the carburizing and quenching process, and a tempering furnace 94 for performing a tempering process It is.

Next, carburizing and quenching of the steel member 8 was performed using each of the above facilities, and the strength characteristics, the strain occurrence state, and the residual stress occurrence state were compared.
In this embodiment method, as shown in the heat pattern A of FIG. 1, the vacuum carburizing step a1 in which the steel member is carburized in a carburizing gas under reduced pressure, and the steel member after the vacuum carburizing step is used as a cooling gas. A vacuum cooling step a2 for cooling the cooling gas in a state where the cooling gas is reduced to a pressure lower than atmospheric pressure, and an induction quenching step a3 for quenching with water after high-frequency heating of a desired portion of the cooled steel member, Went.

The vacuum carburizing step a1 was performed at 950 ° C. for 49 minutes as carburizing and diffusion treatment, and the degree of vacuum in the carburizing chamber at that time was 0.001 bar and the type of carburizing gas was acetylene. In the reduced pressure cooling step a2, the cooling gas is nitrogen (N ₂ ), the reduced pressure state is 0.2 bar, the cooling gas is stirred, and the duration of the reduced pressure cooling step is 150 ° C. or lower from the temperature above the austenitizing temperature immediately after the carburizing treatment. The cooling rate was 10 ° C./min until the temperature reached Induction hardening process a3 was performed on the conditions that the tooth surface 81 which is the inner peripheral part of the steel member 8 is heated to 950 ° C. by high frequency heating, and then water quenching is performed by spraying water.

  In the comparative method, as is known from the heat pattern B of FIG. 1, after heating to 950 ° C. which is a carburizing temperature, the carburizing temperature is maintained at that temperature for 220 minutes to perform the normal carburizing step b1, and then the quenching temperature is 850. After holding at ° C., a quenching step b2 of oil quenching is performed. In the comparative example, a post-washing step was performed after the quenching step b2, and a tempering step b4 was further performed after the post-washing step b3.

Moreover, in the said comparison method, SCM420 (JIS) suitable for carburizing was used as a raw material.
In the method of the present embodiment , instead of SCM420 (JIS) suitable for carburization, the chemical components are C: 0.22 to 0.26%, Si: 0.15 to 0.35% in mass%. Mn: 1.40 to 1.60%, Cr: 0.40 to 0.60%, Mo: 0 to 0.3%, V: 0 to 0.3%, S: 0 to 0.05% Non-tempered steel containing Fe and unavoidable impurities, more specifically, in mass%, C: 0.23%, Si: 0.22%, Mn: 1.45%, Cr: Non-heat treated steel (sample E1) comprising 0.46%, Mo: 0.17%, V: 0.09%, S: 0.016%, the balance consisting of Fe and inevitable impurities was used as a raw material.

The Vickers hardness (Hv) with respect to the distance from the surface of the tooth bottom 815 (FIG. 3) portion of the gear was measured for the steel member that had undergone the carburizing and quenching treatment, and this was used as the strength evaluation. The measurement results are shown in FIG. In the figure, the horizontal axis represents the distance (mm) from the surface, and the vertical axis represents the Vickers hardness (Hv). And the result of the steel member processed by the present Example method was shown as code | symbol E1, and the result of the steel member processed by the comparison method was shown as code | symbol C1.

As can be seen from the figure, in the case of the method (E1) of this example, the hardness becomes slightly lower as compared with the case of the comparative method (C1) as it goes inside, but the hardness on the outermost surface is rather higher than that of the comparative method. Obtained. From these results, it can be seen that by applying the method of this example , an excellent heat treatment equivalent to or better than the conventional one can be performed.
Further, in the case of the present embodiment method (E1), when a material suitable for carburizing treatment similar to the conventional one is used, the strength is reduced due to the carburizing depth becoming shallower by the amount of carburizing time significantly shortened. Can be considered. However, as in this example, these strength problems could be solved by changing the applied material and adopting water quenching. Moreover, there is a possibility that the improvement of the internal strength to the level of the conventional product can be solved by improving the ingredients of the material.

Next, the amount of distortion was compared by measuring the dimensions of the steel members that had been carburized and quenched.
Two types of measurement were performed: “BBD” and “BBD ellipse”. As shown in FIG. 3, “BBD” is a dimension obtained by arranging steel balls 88 having a predetermined diameter so as to be in contact with the valley portion of the tooth surface 81 and measuring the inner diameter of the opposing hard balls 88. is there. Then, this measurement is performed on the entire circumference at three positions in the axial direction (a position, b position and c position in FIG. 5B), and the average value (Ave), maximum value (Max) of the measured values, The minimum value (Min) was determined.
Next, the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of “BBD” at each measurement position in the axial direction was determined as “BBD ellipse (μm)”. Then, in the same manner as described above, the average value (Ave), maximum value (Max), and minimum value (Min) of the measured values were obtained.

FIG. 5 shows the measurement results of the above “BBD” and “BBD ellipse”. In the column on the left side of the figure, the results at the three timings before vacuum carburizing, after vacuum carburizing + vacuum cooling, and after induction hardening are shown as the results of the method of this example . In the right column of the figure, as a result of the comparison method, results at two timings before carburizing and quenching are shown. In addition, the notation shown in each column is that the maximum value and the minimum value average value are plotted for the three positions a, b, and c in FIG. It is tied vertically. Moreover, the average value of the position of 3 places was tied with the thin line.
As can be seen from the figure, if the method of this embodiment is adopted, the occurrence of distortion is suppressed even after quenching. It can also be seen that the effect of suppressing the occurrence of distortion has already been obtained by reduced-pressure slow cooling after vacuum carburization.
In contrast, in the comparative example, it can be seen that large distortion occurs due to the carburizing and quenching process.

Next, the residual stress of the steel member which finished the carburizing quenching process was measured and compared. The measurement results are shown in FIG. In this figure, the horizontal axis is the distance from the surface of the tooth bottom 815, the vertical axis is the residual stress, the tension is +, and the compression is-.
In the case of the method (E1) of the present example, the compressive residual stress state is at least from the outermost surface, whereas in the case of the comparative method (C1), it is understood that the outermost surface is the tensile residual stress. . When the residual stress on the outermost surface is a tensile stress, various problems may occur. For example, it is necessary to reduce the tensile residual stress by performing a heat treatment or a surface modification treatment. Therefore, it can be seen that the method of the present embodiment also provides an effect that it is not necessary to provide such a process for improving the residual stress.

(Example 2)
In this example, a plurality of types of methods (Tests 1 to 3) were further performed for the reduced pressure cooling process in Example 1 to grasp the occurrence of distortion.

Test 1:
In Test 1, as shown in FIG. 7, the steel member is cooled to 150 ° C. or lower after performing the carburizing process for raising the temperature of the steel member to 950 ° C. above the austenitizing temperature.
FIG. 1 shows time history on the horizontal axis and temperature on the vertical axis, and shows the temperature history of the steel member (the same applies to FIGS. 8 to 10 described later). In the heat treatment, the period from point A to point B is the heat treatment period, and the period after point B is the cooling period. In Test 1, from the start of cooling of the steel member to the completion of cooling, reduced-pressure cooling was performed in which the cooling gas was cooled in a state where the pressure was lower than atmospheric pressure.
The vacuum cooling conditions were such that N ₂ was used as the cooling gas, the pressure was kept constant at 0.3 bar, and the cooling gas was stirred. The stirring speed was a condition obtained by operating the stirring fan in the apparatus used for cooling at a constant rotational speed of 550 rpm.

Test 2:
In Test 2, as shown in FIG. 8, the cooling gas was cooled in a state where the cooling gas was reduced to a pressure lower than the atmospheric pressure from the start of cooling of the steel member to the completion of cooling, but the detailed conditions were changed to Test 1. That is, as the conditions for reduced pressure cooling, N ₂ was used as the cooling gas and the pressure was reduced to a constant pressure of 0.3 bar, which was the same as in Test 1, but the stirring speed conditions were initially set at 250 rpm. The operation was performed with a constant drop, and then the condition was changed to 550 rpm constant after 15 minutes (point C in FIG. 8). Others are the same as those in Test 1.

Test 3:
In Test 3, as shown in FIG. 9, the cooling gas was cooled under reduced pressure below atmospheric pressure from the start of cooling of the steel member to the completion of cooling, but the detailed conditions were changed to Test 1. In other words, as a condition for cooling under reduced pressure, N ₂ was used as a cooling gas, and the reduced pressure state was kept constant at 0.65 bar. In addition, the cooling gas was not initially stirred, and then the condition was changed to a constant 550 rpm after 15 minutes (point C in FIG. 9). Others are the same as those in Test 1.

Test 4 (Comparative test):
In Test 4, as shown in FIG. 10, the cooling gas was cooled at atmospheric pressure from the start of cooling of the steel member to the completion of cooling. In other words, the cooling conditions were such that the pressure of the cooling gas was constant at 1.0 bar (atmospheric pressure), and the stirring conditions were constant at 250 rpm with the rotational speed of the stirring fan being reduced from the rating. The heat treatment conditions before cooling are the same as in Test 1.

The ring gears that are the plurality of steel members 8 were processed by the cooling methods of Tests 1 to 3 and Test 4 described above, and the amounts of distortion were compared by measuring the dimensions.
As shown in FIG. 3, the ring gear 8 processed in this example is provided with a tooth surface 81 on the inner peripheral surface of the ring-shaped main body 80 as in the first embodiment, and its roundness is extremely high. Is important to. Therefore, the BBD dimensions of the entire circumference were measured at three locations in the axial direction (position a, position b and position c in FIG. 5B), and the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value was determined as “BBD ellipse (μm)”. As sought. As shown in FIG. 3, the BBD dimension is a dimension obtained by arranging steel balls 88 having a predetermined diameter so as to contact the valley portion of the tooth surface 81 and measuring the inner diameter dimensions of the opposing hard balls 88. is there. Then, the measurement of the BBD ellipse is performed for all the steel members processed, and the average value (Ave), maximum value (Max), and minimum value (Min) of the obtained BBD ellipse are obtained. And a graph is shown. In addition, the number (n) of the processed steel member is 10-25 pieces, respectively.

  As can be seen from FIG. 11, in each of Tests 1 to 3, the value of the BBD ellipse is smaller than that of Test 4 (Comparative Test), indicating that the distortion suppression effect is very high.

(Example 3)
In this example, as shown in FIG. 12, the same strain evaluation as that of Example 1 was performed on the ring-shaped steel member 7 (diff ring gear) having the tooth surface 71 on the outer peripheral side of the ring-shaped main body 70. This steel member 7 is also a part used for an automatic transmission of an automobile.
The method of this example and the comparison method performed in this example are the same as those of Example 1, and the material of the material is the same as that of Example 1.

The strain was evaluated by measuring “OBD” at three locations (a position, b position, and c position) in the axial direction of the steel member 7. “OBD” is a dimension obtained by disposing steel balls having a predetermined diameter so as to be in contact with the valley portion of the tooth surface 71 at each axial position and measuring the outer diameter of the opposing hard balls. . And this measurement was performed in four places of the circumferential direction, and the average value was used as an evaluation value. The average value (Ave), maximum value (Max), and minimum value (Min) of the obtained OBD were determined, and the numerical values and graphs are shown in FIG. In addition, the number (n) of the processed steel member is 10-25 pieces, respectively. Further, in this example method, evaluation was performed at three timings before vacuum carburizing, after vacuum carburizing + cooling under reduced pressure, and after induction hardening. In the comparative method, evaluation was performed at two timings before carburizing and quenching and after carburizing and quenching.

As can be seen from FIG. 12, if the method of this embodiment is employed, the occurrence of distortion is suppressed even after quenching.
On the other hand, in the case of the comparative method, it can be seen that a large distortion is generated by the carburizing and quenching process.

Example 4
In this example, the method of this example was performed on a gear (FIG. 3) using a plurality of materials (samples E2 to E4) having different chemical components instead of the material (sample E1) in Example 1.
Sample E2 has chemical components in mass% of C: 0.11 to 0.15%, Si: 0.15 to 0.35%, Mn: 2.10 to 2.30%, Cr: 0.90. -1.10%, Mo: 0-0.3%, V: 0-0.3%, S: 0-0.05%, the balance of non-tempered steel consisting of Fe and inevitable impurities, More specifically, in mass%, C: 0.13%, Si: 0.24%, Mn: 2.20%, Cr: 1.00%, Mo: 0.18%, V: 0.07 %, S: 0.018%, the balance being non-tempered steel consisting of Fe and inevitable impurities.

  Sample E3 has a chemical composition of mass%, C: 0.2 to 0.3%, Si: 0.4 to 0.6%, Mn: 1.4 to 2.0%, Cr: 0.4 to 0.6%, Mo: 0 to 0.1%, V: 0.05 to 0.25%, S: 0 to 0.5%, the balance was developed to be Fe and inevitable impurities The developed steel, more specifically, in mass%, C: 24%, Si: 0.5%, Mn: 1.8%, Cr: 0.5%, Mo: 0.03%, V: 0.00. It is a developed steel containing 12%, S: 0.016%, the balance being Fe and inevitable impurities.

Sample E4 has a chemical composition of mass%, C: 0.2 to 0.3%, Si: 0.4 to 0.6%, Mn: 1.4 to 2.0%, Cr: 0.4 to Developed to contain 0.6%, Mo: 0.3-0.4%, V: 0.05-0.25%, S: 0-0.5%, the balance being Fe and inevitable impurities Developed steel, more specifically, in mass%, C: 0.24%, Si: 0.5%, Mn: 1.4%, Cr: 0.5%, Mo: 0.37%, It is a developed steel containing V: 0.12%, S: 0.016%, the balance being Fe and inevitable impurities.
And like Example 1, the Vickers hardness (Hv) with respect to the distance from the surface of the tooth root 815 part of the gear (steel member) obtained after finishing the carburizing and quenching process was measured.

The measurement results are shown in FIG. In the figure, the horizontal axis represents the distance (mm) from the surface, and the vertical axis represents the Vickers hardness (Hv). The result of the gear made of the sample E2 is shown as E2, and the result of the gear made of the sample E3 is shown as E3. For reference, Example E1 and Comparative Example C1 in Example 1 are also shown.

As can be seen from the figure, by applying the method of this embodiment , even if the material is changed to the above-mentioned samples E2, E3, E4, it is possible to perform an excellent heat treatment equivalent to or better than the conventional one.

(Example 5)
In this example, as shown in FIG. 15, an example of a reduced pressure slow cooling pattern that can be adopted as the reduced pressure slow cooling step a <b> 2 shown in Example 1 will be described.
FIG. 15 shows time on the horizontal axis, the rotational speed (a) of the cooling fan on the first vertical axis, the temperature (b) of the material to be treated on the second vertical axis, and the pressure of the cooling gas on the third vertical axis. (C) is taken.

  As can be seen from the figure, in this example, during the first first cooling step P31, the rotation speed of the cooling fan is set to be low, and the cooling gas pressure is set to a reduced pressure state sufficiently lower than the atmospheric pressure to gradually reduce the pressure. Cooled.

  Next, during the second cooling step P32, although the rotational speed of the cooling fan is sufficiently lower than the rating, it is slightly higher than in the first cooling step P31, and the cooling gas pressure is also lower than the atmospheric pressure. The first cooling step P31 was set to a slightly higher state than that in the first cooling step P31, and reduced pressure gradual cooling having a slightly higher cooling capacity than the first cooling step P31 was performed. In this example, the temperature of the material to be processed reaches the so-called A1 transformation point during the second cooling step P32.

  Next, during the third cooling step P33, rapid cooling conditions were set in which the number of rotations of the cooling fan and the cooling gas pressure were sufficiently increased.

  As described above, in the first cooling step P31 in which the first material to be treated is in the highest temperature state, the cooling distortion is reduced by performing reduced pressure gradual cooling that lowers the pressure of the cooling gas and the circulation speed (the number of rotations of the cooling fan). Can be reliably suppressed. Next, in the second cooling step P32 in which the material to be treated has been cooled to some extent, the possibility of occurrence of cooling distortion is reduced, so the cooling capacity is slightly increased, but the structure when exceeding the A1 transformation point of steel. The reduced pressure and slow cooling conditions are maintained in order to suppress the occurrence of distortion associated with transformation. Thereby, generation | occurrence | production of the distortion at the time of exceeding A1 transformation point can be suppressed as much as possible. Thereafter, in the third cooling step P33, the cooling capacity can be maximized by increasing the pressure and the circulation speed of the cooling gas.

In Example 1, (a) Explanatory drawing which shows the heat pattern of this example method, (b) Explanatory drawing which shows the heat pattern of a comparison method. In Example 1, (a) The heat processing equipment which implements this Example method, (b) Explanatory drawing which shows the carburizing and quenching equipment which implements the comparison method. (A) The top view of a steel member in Example 1, (b) Sectional drawing of a steel member (AA arrow directional cross-sectional view of (a)). Explanatory drawing which shows the hardness distribution after carburizing and quenching in Example 1. FIG. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a distortion occurrence state in the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a residual stress generation state in the first embodiment. Explanatory drawing which shows the cooling pattern of the steel member of Test 1 in Example 2. FIG. Explanatory drawing which shows the cooling pattern of the steel member of Test 2 in Example 2. FIG. Explanatory drawing which shows the cooling pattern of the steel member of Test 3 in Example 2. FIG. Explanatory drawing which shows the cooling pattern of the steel member of Test 4 in Example 2. FIG. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a distortion occurrence state in the second embodiment. (A) The top view of a steel member in Example 3, (b) Sectional drawing of a steel member (AA arrow directional cross-sectional view of (a)). FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a distortion occurrence state in the third embodiment. Explanatory drawing which shows the hardness distribution after carburizing and quenching in Example 4. FIG. Explanatory drawing which shows the specific example of the pressure reduction slow cooling pattern in Example 5. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

5 Heat treatment equipment,
7 Steel member (diff ring gear),
8 Steel member (ring gear)

Claims (7)

It is a cooling method performed before subjecting a steel member to induction hardening treatment, and after performing a heat treatment to raise the temperature of the steel member to an austenitizing temperature or higher, the steel member is gradually cooled to a temperature of at least the A1 transformation point or lower. In the cooling method,
For a predetermined period from the start of cooling of the steel member, vacuum cooling is performed in which the atmospheric gas is gradually cooled in a state where the pressure is lower than atmospheric pressure,
A cooling method for a steel member, characterized in that, during the cooling under reduced pressure, the steel member is cooled under a condition in which the stirring speed of the atmospheric gas is increased after the temperature of the steel member becomes equal to or lower than the A1 transformation point. It is a cooling method performed before subjecting a steel member to induction hardening treatment, and after performing a heat treatment to raise the temperature of the steel member to an austenitizing temperature or higher, the steel member is gradually cooled to a temperature of at least the A1 transformation point or lower. In the cooling method,
For a predetermined period from the start of cooling of the steel member, vacuum cooling is performed in which the atmospheric gas is gradually cooled in a state where the pressure is lower than atmospheric pressure,
A method for cooling a steel member, characterized in that, during the cooling under reduced pressure, the steel member is cooled under a condition in which the pressure of the atmospheric gas is increased after the temperature of the steel member becomes equal to or lower than the A1 transformation point.   3. The method for cooling a steel member according to claim 2, wherein the reduced pressure cooling is performed while stirring the atmospheric gas in a state where the atmospheric gas is reduced to a pressure lower than atmospheric pressure.   4. The method for cooling a steel member according to claim 3, wherein during the reduced pressure cooling, the steel member is cooled under a condition in which the stirring speed of the atmosphere gas is increased after the temperature of the steel member becomes equal to or lower than the A1 transformation point. .   The method for cooling a steel member according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the reduced-pressure cooling is performed at least until all the structural transformations of the steel member are completed.   The method for cooling a steel member according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a reduced pressure state of the atmospheric gas in the reduced pressure cooling is in a range of 0.1 bar to 0.65 bar. The method for cooling a steel member according to claim 6, wherein the reduced pressure state of the atmospheric gas in the reduced pressure cooling is in a range of 0.1 bar to 0.3 bar.

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