Effects of chromium additions upon microstructure and mechanical properties of cold drawn pearlitic steel wires

Cr-containing pearlitic steel wires were prepared through cold drawing and simulated galvanization process. Effect of chromium microalloying on microstructural and mechanical properties of the steel wires was investigated. Experimental results show that size of pearlitic colonies of the steel rods decreased as Cr content increased from 0.2 to 0.6 wt.%; meanwhile, interlamellar spacing was little affected because of isothermal phase transition in salt bath. The tensile strength of the pearlitic steel rods was increased from 1480 to 1550 MPa. The tensile strength of the Cr-containing cold drawn wires (ε = 1.58) was increased about 33%, and the torsion circle of the wires were about 15 with cleavage fracture. After annealing at 450 °C for 2 min, tensile strength of the wires increased, but torsion circle was decreased to less than 5. As the annealing time increased, the torsion circle of the steel wires with 0.2 wt.% Cr was improved to about 10 with cleavage fracture, while the torsion performance of the wires having high Cr contents remained low because of delamination fracture. The cementite platelets in Cr-containing wires turned into cementite crystal particles during cold drawing. Microstructure observation and thermal analysis have confirmed that thermal stability of cementite was enhanced with the increase of Cr content.Lichu Zhou, Linfeng Wang, Huaqing Chen, Zonghan Xie and Feng Fan