Nippon Steel Sumitomo Metal Corporation

Akira Kito

Takayuki Nakamura

Yoshihiro Daitoh

A hot-rolled steel bar or wire rod consisting of C: 0.1 to 0.3%, Si: 0.05 to 1.5%, Mn: 0.4 to 2.0%, S: 0.003 to 0.05%, Cr: 0.5 to 3.0%, Al: 0.02 to 0.05%, and N: 0.010 to 0.025%, the balance being Fe and impurities, and the impurities containing P: 0.025% or less, Ti: 0.003% or less, and O: 0.002% or less, wherein the structure thereof is composed of a ferrite-pearlite structure, ferrite-pearlite-bainite structure, or ferrite-bainite structure; the standard deviation of ferrite fractions at the time when randomly selected 15 viewing fields of a transverse cross section are observed and measured with the area per one viewing field being 62,500 &#x3bc;mis 0.10 or less; and in a region from the surface to one-fifth of the radius and a region from the center to one-fifth of the radius in the transverse cross section, the amount of Al precipitating as AlN is 0.005% or less, and the density in terms of the number of AlN having a diameter of 100 nm or larger is 5/100 &#x3bc;mor less. In the hot-rolled steel bar or wire rod, even if hot forging is performed in various temperature ranges, austenite grains can be stably prevented from being coarsened at the time of heating for carburization.

Growing community of inventors

Fukuoka, Japan

Akira Kito