| Summary: | Conventional spheroidization heat treatments of bearing steels are long-term, therefore it is necessary to study alternatives to decrease the heat treatment time to save energy consumption. This work aimed to develop a new manufacturing route in order to obtain a completely spheroidized microstructure. The microstructure and mechanical properties of SAE 52100 steel were evaluated after intercritical annealing with higher cooling rate than the conventional one, followed by cold deformation with different area reductions, and subcritical annealings with different soaking times. It has been observed that the route considering the intercritical annealing with cooling rate 8 times higher than the conventional one, followed by a high cold reduction and subcritical annealing for 1 h turns feasible the complete spheroidization of the material.
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