Comparative analysis of methods for improving the quality of hardened pipe and bar stock for agricultural machinery parts

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The problem of obtaining a high-quality surface is acute in thermal, chemical-thermal and thermomechanical processing of products of rolling production. But, due to the fact that many metallurgical plants are insufficiently equipped with cleaning tools for these types of processing, the required surface quality of metal products is not ensured. Operations related to the removal of defects in the surface of rolled products employ from 30 to 60% of the workers in rolling shops. The need for cleaning leads to a rupture of the production flow, since the metal must be pre-cooled for inspection and cleaning of defects. As a result, the total cost of cleaning is 2 - 3 times higher than the cost of performing the main technological operations - heating and deformation of the metal. In this regard, the combined methods of hot rolling with simultaneous hardening and elimination of surface defects are of particular interest, which gives significant energy savings and excludes etching operations in solutions of sulfuric and hydrochloric acids. The paper considers new methods for stripping rolled stock before deformation in the high-temperature thermomechanical treatment (HTMT) mode of cylindrical hot-rolled solid and hollow billets with screw compression (SC) deformation, combining, along with a high-performance method of shaping and strengthening of rolled products, environmentally friendly (acid-free) methods of surface cleaning, as well as methods of removing surface layer defects combined with mechanical processing. At the same time, simultaneously with cleaning the surface and increasing the accuracy of rolled products, the structure of the surface layer is formed by the mechanism of phase transformations during thermomechanical processing. The type of fracture changes at low-temperature destruction from brittle to ductile. It should also be noted, that there is the need for further development of such well-proven cleaning methods as blade and waterjet processing, which allow, when cleaning rolled products from any steel grades from scale, to implement the most reliable cleaning system, ensure effective removal of surface and deeper defects, increase yield, reduce energy consumption and fit well into the continuous rolling mill line. According to recent studies, waterjet treatment increases the fatigue life of hollow cylindrical parts by up to 15%.