Effect of warm forming process parameters on 42CrMo4 skew rolled bar mechanical properties and microstructure

Abstract

Skew rolling is a manufacturing process in which two or three rolls are used to reduce the diameter or modify the shape of a cylindrical workpiece, which is used to manufacture mechanical components such as shafts, rods or balls. Hot conditions are used to overcome limitations related to material ductility, residual stress and machine capacity. In this paper, the warm skew rolling (WSR) process of 42CrMo4 rods is modeled by the finite element method. The effects of forming parameters, namely initial temperature and roll rotational velocity, on the material strain rate, thermal properties, microstructure and hardness were analyzed. Simulation results were validated by experimental process data, while hardness tests and SEM-EBSD microscopy were used to assess mechanical properties and microstructure, respectively. The WSR resulting microstructure is different from the normalized ferritic–pearlitic initial one. The degree of spheroidization (DoS) of cementite increases with temperature. The maximum DoS of 86.5% occurs at the initial temperature of 750 °C, leading to the highest material softening. Rolling from lower temperatures favors grain fragmentation and the achievement of incomplete spheroidization, which, in combination with the highest proportion of high-angle boundaries, contributes to a higher hardness of the rods with respect to those rolled at higher temperatures. The highest reduction in hardness takes place at 750 °C and 30 rpm, leading to 209.4 HV1 (30.7% reduction) and 194.1 HV1 (35.7% reduction) in the near-surface and internal regions, respectively. The driving factor is the transformation of cementite precipitates into a spheroidal form characterized by the greatest degree of dispersion.