Effect of cooling rate on microstructural formation and hardness of 30CrNi3Mo steel

The variation of microstructural formation and the hardness of the 30CrNi3Mo steel were systematically explored as a function of applied cooling rates in the range of 1–500°C/min. According to the measured Rockwell hardness results, four characteristic stages could be separated as different ranges of cooling rates, which corresponds well with the microstructural evolution observed. With the applied cooling rate increasing, the transformed structure evolves from granular bainite, lower bainite, self-tempered martensite, to finally martensite without self-tempering. Among them, the self-tempered martensite, obtained in the transformed specimens cooled with rates of 25–80°C/min, exhibits the highest hardness values due to the precipitation of fine carbides within it.