An Analytical Model for Calculation of the Steel Hardness after Continuous Cooling

A number of modern engineering steel grades were analyzed using the CCT diagrams plotted by means of the dilatometer. The statistical analysis of the experimental data allowed for the determination of the equations connecting the critical cooling rate to achieve fully martensitic microstructure and the martensite hardness with the chemical composition of the steel. The dependence of the steel hardness on the cooling rate in the range of 0.1...30 C/s was determined. It was shown that this dependence had the logarithmic character for every studied steel grade. The equations connecting the coefficients of the logarithmic function with the chemical composition of steel were obtained. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.The work was supported by the Act 211 of Government of the Russian Federation, contract № 02.A03.21.0006, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, project №11.1465.2014/K, and by the state assignment of the M.N. Miheev Institute of Metal Physics of Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, theme “Laser”