BAR STEEL OR WIRE FOR CASE HARDENING

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bar steel or a wire for case hardening, having low component cost, excellent in machinability, excellent in flex fatigue strength, pitching strength and having small variation of these strengths when subjected to carburizing and hardening or carbonitriding and hardening, and suitable as a raw material of a carburized component.SOLUTION: The bar steel or the wire for case hardening contains C:0.13 to 0.25%, Si:0.02 to 0.35%, Mn:0.50 to 0.90%, S:0.005 to 0.030%, Cr:0.50 to 1.60%, Al:0.010 to 0.060% and N:0.0100 to 0.0250% and the balance Fe with impurities, and has P≤0.030%, Ti≤0.005%, V≤0.005%, O≤0.0015, and Ti+V≤0.006% in impurities, and a concentration difference of each impurity element in a cross section vertical to a longer direction is 0.005% or less for P, 0.003% or less for Ti, 0.003% or less for V and 0.0005% or less for O. The bar steel or the wire for case hardening may contain a specific amount of one or more kind of Cu, Ni, Mo, Nb and Ca in place of a portion of Fe.