Specification
Document Tjrpe] Specification
[Title of the Invention] BEARING PART, STEEL FOR BEARING PART AND
METHOD FOR PRODUCING THEREOF
[Tecl~nicalF ield of the Invcntion]
[OOO l]
The present invention relates to a bearing part such as needle bearings, roller
bearings and ball bearings, steel for a beating part w11ich is a material for the bearing
part, and a neth hod for producing thereof
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-3338, filed on
January 10,2014, and Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-84952, filed on April 16,
2014, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
[Related Art]
[0002]
Bewing~parts.stach =.needle bearings, roller bearings and ball bearings are
continually used under a situatio~w~h ere a foreign material such as burr or abrasion
powder is mixed into lubricating oil, that is, are continually used even in contaminated
environments. Therefore, it is important to improve rolling contact fatigue life of a
bearing part in contaminated environments. In order to improve the rolling contact
fatigue life of the bearing part in contaminated enviro~unents, it is known that an
increase in retained austenite is effective. Accordingly, steel for the bearing part is
subjected to a surface treatment such as a carbt~rizingo r nitriding.
[0003]
However, there are some problems that not only a surrace treatment suc11 as
carburizing or nitriding for the steel for the bearing parts is high cost, but also a
variation in qualities of a bearing part occurs due to the influence of variations in the
treatment atmosphere. For example, Patent Document I discloses a bearing part
including large amount of retained austenite manufactured by quenching and tempering
and without carburizing or a nitriding.
A bearing part disclosed in the Patent Docnment 1 secures the amount of
retained austenite by lowering the martensite start temperature (Ms point) by including
C, Mn and Ni, or Mo into the steel. Ho~vever, when a content of Mn, xvhich is added
to the steel, is increased in order to secnre the amount of retained austenite, the
hardenability of the steel is raised. As a result, a supercooled structure such as
martensite is generated during cooling after hot rolling, and the \\rorkability, ductility
and toughness of hot rolled wire rod is deteriorated.
[0004]
In addition, the Patent Document 2 discloses a method of generating retained
austenite \vhile suppressing grain coarsening by using spherical cementite. Ho\\cever,
in the method disclosed in Patent Doctument 2, spheroidizing at high tenlperahlre is
performed for long period of time. As a result, C is solid-soluted into an austenite
phase and the number density of spherical cementite is insufficient. Further~noret, he
grain size of austu~ite.isc oarsened and an improvement effect of rolling contact fatigue
life cannot be obtained sufficiently.
[OOOS]
Since the treatment time of spheroidizing annealing is long, when the nn~nbero f
times of the annealing is increased, it is ktlown that production efficiency is deteriorated
by increasing a ananufacturing cost. To solve this problem, for example, the Patent
Document 3 discloses a high-carbon steel rolled wire rod for bearing parts that was
invented by some of the present inventors and the high-carbon steel rolled wire rod for
bearing parts is capable of wire drawing \vithout spheroidizing annealing.
[0006]
In addition, conventionally, spheroidizing annealing is performed before or after
the wire drawing. Among the spheroidizing annealing, Patent Document 4 discloses a
alethod in which the rolletl wire rod is subjected to the wire dra\ving after the hot rolling
is completed and the spheroidizing annealing is perfornled so that the spheroidizing
annealing before the wire drawing can be omitted.
I-Iowever, the method disclosed in the Patent Document 4 is not intended to
shorten the treatment time of the splleroidizing an~lealing.
[Prior Art Docurne~~t]
[Patent Document]
[0007]
[Patent Document 11 Japanese Unexatnined Patent Application, First
Publication No. 2004-124215
[Patent Docunlent 21 Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First
Publication No. 2007-077432
[Patent Docu~nen3t1 PCT International Publication WO 2013/108828
Publicatio~~N2o0. 04-100016
[Disclosure of the Inve~~tio~~]
[Proble~nsto be.-Sol.vcd by the Invention]
[OOOS]
However, as in Patent Document 1, when the content of MII in the steel is
increased, it is difficult to process the hot rolled wire rod by o~nittiugsp heroidizing
annealing, and it is necessary to perform spheroidizing several times so as to obtain the
bearing part for the foregoing reasons. In addition, the present i~lve~ltofrosu nd that it
is necessary to control the ~nicrostruch~trher ough the use of wire dra~vinga nd
quenching where the quenching temperature is controlled, in order to manufacture a
bearing part having an excelle~r~otl ling contact fatigue life in contaminated
e~lvironmentsu sing the material disclosed in Patent Docun~en3t .
[0009]
The present illvention has been made in view of such circutnstances, and the aim
of the present invention is to provide a bearing part having an excellent rolling contact
fatigue life in em~ironmenitn cluding contaminated environments, steel for a bearing
part which is a material for the bearing part, and a method for manufacturing them, ill
wliicli the uomber of spheroidizing annealing is only one and n~l~ictahk es a sliort
amount of time.
[Means for Solvi~igth e Problem]
[OOlO]
The present inventors found that the average grain size of prior-aostenite of a
bearing part can be refined by subjecti~igs teel including Cr in wliicli the ~~ietallograpl~ic
struch~rec o~~sist.
and, [C], [Si], [tvh], [Cu], [Nij, [Cr], [Mo], [All and [B] in the equation 2
represent, by mass%, the content of C, tlie content of Si, the content of MI, tlie content
of Cu, the content of Ni, the content of Cr, the cor~teriot f Mo, the content ofAl and the
content of B, respectively, in the hot rolled wire rod,
Al=750,8-26.6x[C]+17.6x[Si]-11.6x~1i]-22.9x[Cuj-23.Ox[Ni]+24.1x[Cr]+22.
5x[Mo]-l69.4x[AI]-894.7x[B] (Equation.2).