New Heat Treatment Technology for Grain Refining of Structural Steel

The application of electrical contact heating (ECH) in austenitic grain refining of ultra-pure 42CrMoVNb steel was introduced. The ECH equipment was designed to reach uniform heating of uniform heat transfer in the sample. The 42CrMoVNb steel treated possesses uniform microstructure with an average austenite grain size of 1.4 μm, higher strength (1 538 MPa) and impact toughness (81 J/cm2).