Air-Hardening Die-Forged Con-Rods—Achievable Mechanical Properties of Bainitic and Martensitic Concepts

Three air-hardening forging steels are presented, concerning their microstructure and their mechanical properties. The materials have been produced industrially and achieve either bainitic or martensitic microstructures by air-cooling directly from the forging heat. The bainitic steels are rather conservative steel concepts with an overall alloy concentration of approximately 3 wt.%, while the martensitic concept is alloyed with 4 wt.% manganese (and additional elements), and therefore belongs to the recently developed steel class of medium manganese steels. The presented materials achieve high strengths (YS: 720 MPa to 850 MPa, UTS: 1055 MPa to 1350 MPa), good elongations (Au: 4.0 MPa to 5.9 MPa, At: 12.3 MPa to 14.9 MPa), and impact toughnesses (up to 37 J) in the air-hardened condition. It is shown that air-hardened steels achieve properties close to standard Q + T steels, while being produced with a significantly reduced heat treatment.