Mechanical Behavior and Microstructure Evolution of Bearing Steel 52100 During Warm Compression

High-performance bearing steel requires a fine and homogeneous structure of carbide particles. Direct deformation spheroidizing of bearing steel in a dual-phase zone can contribute to achieving this important structure. In this work, warm compression testing of 52100 bearing steel was performed at temperatures in the range of 650–850°C and at strain rates of 0.1–10.0 s−1. The effect of deformation temperatures on mechanical behavior and microstructure evolution was investigated to determine the warm deformation temperature window. The effect of deformation rates on microstructure evolution and metal flow softening behavior of the warm compression was analyzed and discussed. Experimental results showed that the temperature range from 750°C to 800°C should be regarded as the critical range separating warm and hot deformation. Warm deformation at temperatures in the range of 650–750°C promoted carbide spheroidization, and this was determined to be the warm deformation temperature window. Metal flow softening during the warm deformation was caused by carbide spheroidization.