Effect of Thermomechanical Rolling on the Induction Hardenability of a Micro-alloyed 1045 Steel

The effects of thermomechanical rolling (TMR) were compared to that of standard hot rolling (HR) on the austenitization and dissolution of ferrite and cementite during simulated induction heating and subsequent transformations during quenching in medium carbon steels was investigated using a 10V45Nb steel. Dilatometry was used to rapidly heat the as rolled TMR and HR samples above the Ac3 temperature at a rate of 200 ^oC/s followed by cooling at rates of 235, 200, 150, 73, 40, 20, 10, and 1 ^oC·s^-1. TMR increased the ease of austenitiziation and decreased the austenite grain size. The transformation kinetics during cooling were unaffected by TMR.