Aisin Aw Co., Ltd.

Takatoshi Suzuki

Kouji Ohbayashi

Michio Maruki

A bainite forming process for treating a steel material reduces the time required for a complete thermal treatment as well as the cycle time for the thermal treatment device without necessitating any special means for handling the steel material. The steel material is heated to a temperature higher than the austenitic transformation point, and temporarily quenched to an intermediate point temperature higher than the martensitic transformation point. Then, the temperature of the steel material is again raised towards the range corresponding to bainitic transformation to form a bainitic structure. The reheating is discontinued before the temperature corresponding to the austenitic transformation point is reached, and the steel material is then quenched. In the heating steps, only the portion to be treated by the bainite forming process is locally irradiated with a high-density energy beam.

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Aichi-ken, Japan

Takatoshi Suzuki