Effects of rare earth elements addition on mechanical properties and corrosion behavior of GCr15 bearing steel under different heat treatment conditions

Abstract

In this work, effects of rare earth addition on mechanical properties and corrosion behavior of GCr15 bearing steel under hot rolled, annealed, and quenched-tempered conditions were investigated via mechanical tests, electrochemical measurements, and immersion tests. Results show that rare earth elements can refine grains, improve hardness, tensile strength, and impact absorption energy of GCr15 bearing steel under different heat treatment conditions. Besides, it has been found that rare earth elements are beneficial to corrosion resistance of GCr15 bearing steel in 0.1 mol/L NaCl solution by electrochemical and immersion measurements.