Influence of Cooling Rate and Chemical Composition on Phase Transformation and Hardness of C70S6 Steel

The influence of cooling rate and chemical composition on phase transformation and hardness of C70S6 steel were studied by Gleeble-3800 thermal simulation testing machine and box type electric furnace. The results showed that when the cooling rate was between 0.3 and 5 °C/s, the transformation products of two experimental steels were mainly composed of ferrites, pearlite and sorbite. The pearlite content gradually decreased with the cooling rate increasing, while the sorbite content increased and the ferrite content changed little. Both the ferrite and pearlite transformation starting temperature and ending temperature decreased with the cooling rate increasing. Besides, the hardness increased with the cooling rate. At the same cooling rate, the phase transformation temperature increased slightly with the carbon equivalent decreasing, and the pearlite content increased, while the hardness decreased. The hardness of C70S6 steel was reduced by cooling rate decreasing. However, it was difficult to realize the method of decreasing the hardness by adjusting the cooling rate in the case of higher carbon equivalent. Therefore, in order to obtain an appropriate hardness, the Ceq must be controlled. And a Ceq=0.83% was recommended.