The microstructure and mechanical properties of M50 steel subjected to combining cold rolling (CR) with austempering are investigated. The microstructure is characterized using X-ray diffraction and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The mechanical properties are measured using the uniaxial tensile and Charpy impact tests. It is observed that an excellent combination of ultimate tensile strength (2536 MPa) and impact toughness (128 J) was achieved by combining austempering with CR; of which the ultimate tensile strength increased by 10% compared with traditional martensite quenching-tempering (Q-T) specimen and the impact absorbed energy exhibited 2.3 times of that in Q-T specimen. The observation of the microstructure indicates that CR obviously refines the thickness of bainite sheaves, which is favorable for the formation of ultrafine equiaxed ferrite during tempering.

In this work, the effects on dry wear behavior of cold ring rolling (CRR) of GCr15 bearing steel, after quenching and tempering (QT) heat treatment are investigated. The effects on steel microstructures and wear mechanisms of CRR with different austenitizing times are also discussed. The results show that, with a short austenitizing time of 10 min, CRR can increase the retained austenite content, decrease the undissolved carbide content and improve the hardness of the specimen, thus reducing ploughing and fatigue flaking, and decreasing the wear loss of the CRR specimen. With the longer austenitizing time of 20 min, the retained austenite content increases, the undissolved carbide content decreases, and the hardness increases significantly, both in specimens with and without CRR, so that ploughing, fatigue flaking, and wear loss can all be decreased. However, with an austenitizing time of less than 20 min, the effects of CRR on retained austenite content, undissolved carbide content, and hardness are not significant. Thus, CRR of less than 20 min cannot further improve wear morphology or decrease wear loss.