Deformation behaviour and microstructure development of a high-carbon steel during its hot and cold processing

The heritability of structural properties of the high-carbon steel 1 CS67 during laboratory casting, hot and cold strip rolling, soft annealing, as well as the impact of processing conditions on the final mechanical properties of the strip were studied. Ferrite grain size seems to be more intensively affected by the casting's cooling rate and subsequent heating time than by the phase transformations before conventional rolling. Owing to higher ferrite content resulting from finer austenite grain size, samples obtained after laboratory remelting and casting are characterised by lower yield stress and strength, in combination with higher ductility. A simple model of mean equivalent stress values dependent on temperature, strain and strain rate was developed using the results of hot flat-rolling tests.