Effect of Subcritical Annealing Temperature on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of SCM435 Steel

The effect of subcritical annealing temperature on microstructure and mechanical properties of SCM435 steel was investigated through changing the heating and soaking temperature as 660 °C, 680 °C, 700 °C, 720 °C and 745 °C. The microstructure and mechanical properties of intercritically annealed specimens were analyzed. With increasing the subcritical annealing temperature from 660 °C to 720 °C, the spheroidization ratio gradually increased, and the mechanical properties, formability and Vickers hardness were improved. According to the comprehensive comparison of mechanical properties and formability, the subcritical process at soaking temperature of 680–720 °C could achieve similar annealing effect as that of intercritical process. Therefore, the subcritical annealing temperature could be set as 700 °C in practice, with the Ac1 temperature fluctuation within ±20 °C, and the applicability and stability of subcritical annealing were guaranteed in industrial application. The plant results of the cold heading showed that the subcritical annealing could replace original intercritical annealing successfully with significantly saving time and energy.