Calculation of hardenability of structural steels from their chemical composition

Abstract

Although there are a few methods for calculating hardenability of steels, only two or three of the Russian production plants use them. Other plants find them inapplicable, because of the substantial differences between calculated and experimental results. A data bank on hardenability compiled from 5000 heats of various structural steels and five years of tests on the mathematical model created from the data allowed specialists from the USA to create a J-406 SAE standard for calculating the hardenability of steels. Within an accuracy of ± 10%, the method gives an ideal critical diameter of the structural steels included in the standard. This paper presents a method for calculating hardenability of Russian structural steels, which has been developed on the basis of the American J-406 SAE.