FORM 2
THE PATENT ACT 1970 (39 of 1970)
The Patents Rules, 2003 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION See Section 10, and rule 13


APPLICANT(S)
a) Name
b) Nationality
c) Address
1.
2.

TITLE OF INVENTION
BALL PIN AND BUSHINGS COMPOSED OF RUST-RESISTANT STEEL
ZF FRIEDRICHSHAFEN AG
GERMAN Company
8803 8 FRIEDRICHSHAFEN
GERMANY

3.

PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION

The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed : -


The invention relates to ball pins and ball sleeves, as well as to a method of manufacturing them.
Ball pins and ball sleeves are used for example in steering linkages, tension- and thrust struts, transverse links and track rods of motor vehicles. In this case, there has to be extraordinary compliance with the required dimensions of the ball and the ball sleeve, which moreover have to be of a high surface quality.
Basic information about ball pins and ball sleeves may be obtained for example from DE10 2005 019 559 Al and DE100 23 602 C2.
Ball pins for motor cars according to prior art are generally made from the heat-treatable steels 41Cr4 or 42CrMo4. The steel is melted and continuously cast into billets. The billets are then hot-rolled into rod wire in the range of 10 mm to 30 mm in diameter. To enable the ball pins to be manufactured from the wire in a multi¬stage press, the rod wire has to be annealed to spheroidal cementite (annealing to spheroidal cementite = ASC). For this purpose, the rod wire is pickled, coated in a phosphate bath, drawn, recrystallization-annealed, pickled once more and phosphatized. This is then followed by drawing of the wire to the finished diameter with a close tolerance. In a multi-stage press the die-formed ball pin parts are manufactured from the drawn wire. To adjust the desired strength, the dire-formed ball pin parts have to be quenched and tempered. The die-formed parts are heated to ca. 900°C (austenitized), quenched (hardened) rapidly in water and/or oil and heated once more to temperatures of 500°C to 600°C (tempered). The cutting and/or non-cutting shaping of the ball pins then occurs. For the manufacture of ball sleeves, the corresponding procedure applies. Ball pins and ball sleeves may of course also be manufactured in some other way.
If ball pins and ball sleeves are to be corrosion-protected, after manufacture and optionally subsequent grinding they are nitrocarburized. During this process, carbon and nitrogen diffuse into the case. As a result, the outer region of the steel

becomes hard and wear- and corrosion-resistant. The corrosion resistance in the neutral salt spray test according to DIN 50021 (DIN = German Industry Standard) is generally 96 hours for the threaded region, generally 480 hours for other regions. The nitrocarburizing process is carried out in a separate, frequently also spatially separate step after manufacture of the ball pins and ball sleeves. In this case, especially during transport care is necessary to ensure that the surface of the ball pins is not damaged as, otherwise, the achieved corrosion protection is reduced and the dimensional accuracy suffers. As the nitriding process is effected in batches, the corrosion resistance of the individual batches of ball pins and ball sleeves also has to be laboriously tested after coating.
The object of the present invention was to overcome the described drawbacks of the prior art, in particular to dispense with the laborious nitrocarburizing/coating step and to maintain or extend the corrosion fatigue limit.
It was discovered that it is possible to dispense with the nitrocarburizing process if the ball pin or the ball sleeve is manufactured from a stainless steel having the following composition:
- iron, as well as
- 10.5 - 13 wt.% chromium
- 0.005-0.3 wt.% carbon
- max. 0.015 wt.% sulphur
- 0.2-1 wt.% silicon
- 0.2-1.0 wt.% manganese.
(The abbreviation wt.% means weight percent.)
The ball pins and/ or ball sleeves according to the invention, despite the elimination of a separate coating step, exhibit corrosion fatigue limits that are at least on a par with those for nitrided ball pins or ball sleeves of prior art but without a separate coating process, in particular a nitrocarburizing process, being required for this purpose. Preferably the corrosion fatigue limits are markedly higher.
14 MAY 2009,'

What is used according to the invention is therefore a stainless steel, i.e. a steel, which contains at least 50% iron and in which the chromium content is between 10.5 and 13 wt.%. In principle, steels that are very resistant to corrosion and have markedly higher chromium contents are also known. These are however expensive and therefore not suitable for a mass product.
The material according to the invention moreover has a carbon fraction in the region of 0.005 to 0.3 wt%. The carbon content is preferably max. 0.1 wt.%, even more preferably max. 0.02 wt.%. A lower carbon content leads to better deformability of the steel.
For reasons of cost, the chromium content is as low as possible. What is preferred is a chromium content that is selected in dependence upon the carbon content. A preferred range for the chromium content is calculated as follows:
chromium content in wt.% = 11.5 wt.% + 10 x (carbon content in wt.%) to 12 wt.% + 20 x (carbon content in wt.%).
The sulphur content is max. 0.015 wt.%, with a content of max. 0.007 wt.% being preferred.
The material further contains 0.2 to 1 wt.%, preferably 0.6 to 0.8 wt.% silicon as well as 0.2 to 1 wt.%, preferably 0.3 to 0,5 wt.% manganese.
Naturally, a stainless steel may contain further alloying elements in larger or smaller quantities. For reasons of manufacture alone, further alloying constituents are customary.
Preferably the ball pin or the ball sleeve contains max. 0.06 wt.% aluminium.
In a further embodiment, the ball pin or the ball sleeve contains max. 1 wt.%, preferably max. 0.5 wt.% nickel.
l4MAY2009

It is possible for one or more of the following elements to be contained:
- max. 0.05 wt.% phosphorus
- max. 0.5 wt.% copper
- max. 0.5 wt.% cobalt
- max. 0.2 wt.% titanium
- max. 0.5 wt. % molybdenum
- max. 0.01 wt.% niobium
- max. 0.01 wt.% boron
- max. 0.2 wt.% vanadium
- max. 0.1 wt.% nitrogen.
The ball pins or the ball sleeves preferably have a ferritic-martensitic structural texture. This arises when the steel, after casting/ is reheated so that increasingly austenite forms. During cooling this leads, after hot rolling of the steel into rod wire, to a tetragonally distorted lattice; the faster the cooling, the more martensite arises. Preferably, the martensite structure fraction is 5 to 25 wt.%.
It turns out that the ball pins or the ball sleeves after 720 hours in a neutral salt spray test according to DIN 50021 exhibit no red rust. Typical further properties of the material used according to the invention are:
- its high strength of Rm > 850 MPa after a sizing draw of 5 to 50%,
- extreme toughness (measured as notched bar impact value on an ISO-V test specimen).
It has surprisingly emerged that the material, despite not having a significant sulphur content, may be shaped by cutting just as well as the previously used material. The service life of the machine tools is even slightly longer than with the previously used material. The steel according to the invention that is investigated in the examples has only a sulphur content of 0.002 wt./%. The previously used material (41Cr4+QT quenched and tempered to 900 MPa) on the other hand has sulphur contents of 0.02 to 0.04 wt.%. Both steels possess the same strength level.
14 MAY 2009

The subject matter of the invention is further a method of manufacturing ball pins or ball sleeves from a stainless steel having the composition defined in the claims. Surprisingly for the person skilled in the art it has emerged that ball pins and ball sleeves may be pressed also without laborious ASC treatment from the wire in a multi-stage press. It is possible to dispense with the expensive and laborious ASC treatment. For the person skilled in the art it was further surprising that the components after pressing exhibit the same high strength as is otherwise exhibited only by the quenched and tempered components. Use of the steel according to the invention therefore makes it possible to dispense with the more expensive, laborious process of quenching and tempering. The method comprises at least the steps:
- melting the steel
- casting the steel en bloc or continuously
- hot rolling
- cold drawing
- shaping by cutting.
Manufacture of the ball pin- or ball sleeve blanks is preferably effected by means of a multi-stage cold forming process, in which the blanks are pressed from the wire.
Preferably, hot rolling is followed by a cold draw of > 5% to adjust the strength.
It is further preferred that the cooling of the wire after hot rolling is effected at > 1 K/s (kelvin per second). As a result, the notched bar impact work on ISO-V test specimens is around 0°C > 200 J (joules).
The subject matter of the invention is further the use of a stainless steel having the following composition:
- iron, as well as
- 10.5 - 13 wt.% chromium
- 0.005 - 0.3 wt. % carbon
- max. 0.015 wt.% sulphur
1 4 MAY 2009'

- 0.2-1 wt.% silicon
- 0.2 - 1.0 wt.% manganese
to manufacture ball pins or ball sleeves.
Such ball pins and ball sleeves are suitable in particular for use in vehicle construction.
In vehicle construction use occurs for example in steering linkages, tension- and thrust struts, coupling rods and/or stabilizer connections, two- and three-point transverse links and track rods.
Figure 1 shows diagrammatically a ball joint 1 having a ball pin 2, which
comprises a shank part 3 with a thread 5, and a ball head 4 and a ball cup 6.
Figure 2 shows a cross section through a ball pin manufactured according to
the invention.
Figure 3 shows turned rods of the material used according to the invention
after a salt spray test.
Figure 4 shows the notched bar impact work on ISO-V test specimens.
Figure 5 shows the yield stress of cylindrical test specimens taken from the rod
wire.
Figure 6 shows the mechanical characteristic values determined in the tensile
test.
Figure 7 shows the chips arising during turning with different machining
parameters.
14 MAY 2009

The invention is explained in detail by means of the following examples: Example 1
An alloy was produced, which had the following composition:
- 12.20 wt.% chromium
- 0.01 wt.% carbon
- 0.001 wt.% sulphur
- 0.77 wt.% silicon
- 0.38 wt.% manganese
- 0.02 wt.% phosphorus
- 0.59 wt.% nickel
- 0.01 wt.% molybdenum
- 0.01 wt.% aluminium
- 0.1 wt.% copper
- 0.02 wt.% nitrogen.
Example 2
An alloy was produced, which had the following composition:
- iron
- 12.16 wt.% chromium
- 0.008 wt.% carbon
- 0.002 wt.% sulphur
- 0.73 wt.% silicon
- 0.43 wt. % manganese
- 0.005 wt.% phosphorus
- 0.49 wt.% nickel
- 0.01 wt.% molybdenum
- 0.002 wt. % aluminium
- 0.1 wt.% copper
- 0.03 wt.% nitrogen.
8 14MAY2009

Example 3
Figure 2 shows a cross section through a ball pin according to the invention. By means of the macro etching the flow lines have became visible. The ball pin blank was pressed directly from a sized wire using a multi-stage cold forming method. Pressing is followed by shaping by cutting of the blank and then thread rolling. After pressing, the component was not quenched and tempered or heat-treated. The cold forming results in tensile strengths in the component of 866 MPa to 1046 MPa. The tensile strength distribution, unlike in the case of quenched and tempered components, is inhomogeneous owing to the method. The tensile strengths have been re-evaluated from hardness values. This tensile strength of the nitrided standard material reach values of approximately 820 MPa.
Example 4
The alloys according to Example 1 and 2 were subjected to a salt spray test according to DIN 50021. After 720 hours only a slight film of rust had formed on the underside.
Figure 3 shows turned rods of the steel used according to the invention according to Example 2 after 720 hours in the neutral salt spray test according to DIN 50021. This shows only slight red rust on account of formation of a film of rust on the underside of the rod. 1001 is the internal test number. It has emerged that even a rolled thread possesses a corrosion fatigue limit of more than 480 hours in the neutral salt spray test.
Example 5
The notched bar impact work was then investigated. Figure 4 shows the notched bar impact work on ISO-V test specimens taken from the rod wire as a function of the test temperature for 2 different wire rod cooling conditions. The temperature at the end of the rolling operation in both cases was ca. 1000 °C. "Harsh cooling" stands
9 14 MAY 2009 *

for a cooling rate higher than 1.5 K/s; "gentle cooling" stands for a cooling rate lower than 0.3 K/s. The notched bar impact work of the standard material 41Cr4+QT in the quenched and tempered state is moreover simultaneously cited as a reference. Over the entire investigated temperature range the notched bar impact work of the steel used according to the invention is markedly greater than that of the standard material and at room temperature reaches values of over 250 J. A high notched bar impact work is synonymous with extreme toughness of the material and is essential for safety-critical components in the region of the chassis.
Example 6
The yield stress was then investigated. Figure 5 shows the yield stress of cylindrical samples taken from the rod wire as a function of the true strain (phi), with the rate of deformation (phi(.)) as a parameter. The true strain works out from the percentage compression (epsilon) of the test specimen to:
phi = natural logarithm (1-epsilon). The rate of deformation is the first time derivation of the true strain. After only low true strains, yield stresses of over 800 MPa arise. For this reason, a cold draw of ca. 10% is normally sufficient for adjustment of the strength. The long plateau of the deformation curve demonstrates that during the multi-stage pressing of the ball pin blank no extreme increase of hardness occurs in the component. It is advantageous that at high rates of deformation the plateau is longer. The steel is deformed at high rates of deformation when the multi-stage presses are operating at high capacity (piece number per unit of time).
Example 7
A tensile test was then carried out. Figure 6 shows the mechanical characteristic values: tensile strength Rm, yield stress Rp0.2, elongation at fracture A5 and percent reduction of area at fracture Z, which were determined in the tensile test. The tensile test specimens were taken from two different pressed ball pins. The results in both
10 14 MAY 2009,'

cases are tensile strengths of 900 MPa. The ball pins according to prior art possess tensile strengths of approximately 820 MPa.
Example 8
Figure 7 shows the chips arising during turning with different machining parameters. Despite the low sulphur content of the steel according to the invention of 0.002 wt.%, there is also no occurrence of markedly coiled chips during the machining of a ball pin or ball sleeve.

11

|l4 MAY 2009

CLAIM:
1. Ball pin or ball sleeve made of a stainless steel having the following
composition
iron, as well as
- 10.5 -13 wt.% chromium
0.005- 0.3 wt.% carbon
max. 0.015 wt.% sulphur
0.2-1 wt.% silicon
0.2-1 wt.% manganese.
2. Ball pin or ball sleeve according to claim 1, characterized in that the carbon content is in the range of 0.005 to 0.02 wt.%.
3. Ball pin or ball sleeve according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the chromium content in wt.% is in the range of 11.5 wt.% + 10 x (carbon content in wt.%) to 12 wt.% + 20 x (carbon content in wt.%).
4. Ball pin or ball sleeve according to at least one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that max. 0.06 wt.% aluminium is contained.
5. Ball pin or ball sleeve according to at least one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that in addition max. 1 % nickel is contained.
6. Ball pin or ball sleeve according to at least one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that in addition one or more of the following elements are contained:

- max. 0.05 wt.% phosphorus
- max. 0.5 wt.% copper max. 0.5 wt.% cobalt max. 0.2 wt.% titanium
- max. 0.5 wt.% molybdenum
12 1.4 MAY 2009,"

- max. 0.01 wt.% niobium
- max. 0.01 wt.% boron
- max. 0.2 wt.% vanadium max. 0.1 wt.% nitrogen.

7. Ball pins or ball sleeves according to at least one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the ball pins or the ball sleeves have a ferritic-martensitic structural texture.
8. Ball pin or ball sleeve according to at least one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the ball pin or the ball sleeve after 720 hours exhibits no red rust after 720 hours in the neutral salt spray test according to DIN 50021.
9. Method of manufacturing ball pins or ball sleeves from a stainless steel having the composition defined in claims 1 to 8, comprising at least the steps:

- melting the steel
- casting the steel en bloc or continuously
- hot rolling cold drawing shaping by cutting.

10. Method according to claim 9, characterized in that after hot rolling no drawing to spheroidal cementite (ASC) is effected.
11. Method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the pressing of the blanks from the wire is effected in a multi-stage press.
12. Method according to at least one of claims 9 to 11, characterized in that after pressing no quenching and tempering is effected.
14MAY2009
13

13. Method according to at least one of claims 9 to 12, characterized in that after hot rolling a cold draw of > 5 % is effected to adjust the strength.
14. Method according to at least one of claims 9 to 13, characterized in that the cooling after hot rolling is > 1 K/s, so that the notched bar impact work on ISO-V test specimens around 0 °C is > 200 joules.
15. Method according to at least one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that the grain size is finer than VII according to ASTM E 112-96 and/or DIN EN ISO 643.
16. Use of a stainless steel having the following composition:
iron, as well as - 10.5 -13 wt.% chromium 0.005 - 0.3 wt.% carbon max. 0.015 wt.% sulphur 0.2-1 wt.% silicon 0.2 -1.0 wt.% manganese
Dated this 14th day of May, 2009.

HIRAL CHANDRAKANT JOSHI AGENTFOR ZF FRIEDRICHSHAFEN AG
14MAY2009