One of the most popular materials in the field of human activity is steel. The alloy of iron and carbon has unique technical characteristics, due to which the universality of this material is ensured. And among the best are the technical characteristics of 40x13 steel, which is why it is used in a fairly large number of production processes.
Steel marking
In order to understand the characteristics inherent in the presented material, it is necessary to understand what its marking means. In the world there are a large number of steels, all differ in their properties. And every day a new brand of material can be produced. Therefore, you should deal with the abbreviation of the product.
Steel 40x13 is alloyed, that is, in its composition, in addition to carbon and iron, there are other active elements. In this case, chrome is contained: this is indicated by the letter X in the marking. Its percentage is 1.3 percent. But the technical characteristics of 40x13 steel depend mainly on the amount of carbon contained in it. In this case, the material contains 0.40 percent of the element with serial number 6.
Alloy Steel Production
Alloy steel production technology includes several stages, which are mainly performed in electric arc furnaces:
- Purification of iron ore.
- Steel smelting.
- The introduction of additional additives.
First of all, iron ore is refined: it eliminates foreign components, mainly sulfur, phosphorus. This process is carried out in open smelting furnaces using out-of-furnace processing technology. The refining process is the removal of arsenic and non-ferrous metals from the composition. It is carried out by means of vacuum melting.
The next step in the production of alloy steel is directly in the smelting of steel products. For this, the raw materials in an electric arc furnace are heated to a temperature of 400 to 600 degrees. During melting, iron turns into cast iron, which has an unstable crystal lattice. Through its stabilization and get steel.
To do this, oxygen is supplied to the chamber, which, when burned, emits carbon into the atmosphere of the furnace. He, mixing with iron, converts cast iron into steel. After that, heterogeneous additives (in our case, chromium) are added to the raw materials. As a result, the crystal lattice of metal products is compacted even more, and an alloyed product is obtained.
Specifications
Following the smelting of the alloyed steel grade, the process of quenching and tempering of the sample follows. Quenching of the sample is carried out at a temperature of 1100 degrees. After this, it is important to observe gradual tempering, otherwise the sample will become cracked. To prevent this, this event is held at a temperature of 600 degrees.
Thanks to this manufacturing process, the final product has the following technical characteristics:
- Temporary tensile strength - 1140 MPa.
- The conditional yield strength with permanent deformation is 910 MPa.
- The elongation is 12.5 percent per five times the length of the sample.
- Impact strength - 12 J /.
These characteristics are allowed to use material in various fields of human activity.
Application
In industry, there has been widespread use of steel 40x13. It is mainly used in environments with high humidity. The chromium contained in it enhances the anti-corrosion properties obtained from conventional hardening.
The presented brand has good ductility indicators: at a temperature of more than 1000 degrees it is easily amenable to deformation. This material is actively used in the manufacture of cutting and measuring tools, household items.
The characteristics of steel 40x13 made it possible to use it in the production of machine parts, mainly bearings and compressor parts. The main condition for using the finished elements is that the temperature of the working medium should not exceed 400 degrees. In construction, the material is practically not used, because it is not welded.
Corrosion indicators and their effect on the use of steel
GOST steel 40x13 possesses distinctive indicators of corrosion resistance. It is achieved by quenching the product from a temperature at which complete dissolution of carbides is ensured. But, if, after the heat treatment, the tempering temperature is increased, the corrosion resistance indices decrease due to the volatilization of chromium from the material. A decrease in parameters occurs at a drop temperature above 600 degrees.
As a result of this, in order to obtain more favorable technical characteristics of 40x13 steel, it must be tempered at temperatures from 200 to 300 degrees in order to obtain high hardness and corrosion resistance, or at a temperature of 600-650 Celsius units - to convert the product into structural steel .
