Development of a Thermomechanical Treatment Mode for Stainless-Steel Rings

This article describes a technology for the thermomechanical treatment of stainless-steel piston rings. This technology makes it possible to obtain rings with an optimal combination of plastic and strength properties that is essential for piston rings. The following thermomechanical treatment is suggested for piston rings manufacturing: quenching at 1050 °C, holding for 30 min and cooling in water, then straining by the HPT method for eight cycles at cryogenic temperature and annealing at a temperature up to 600 °C. The resulting microstructure consisted of fine austenite grains sized 0.3 μm and evenly distributed carbide particles. Annealing above this temperature led to the formation of ferrite in the structure; however, preserving the maximum fraction of austenitic component is very important, since the reduction of austenite in the structure will cause a deterioration of corrosion resistance. The strength properties of steel after such treatment increased by almost two times compared with the initial ones: microhardness increased from 980 MPa to 2425 MPa, relative elongation increased by 20%. The proposed technology will improve the strength and performance characteristics of piston rings, as well as increase their service life, which will lead to significant savings in the cost of repair, replacement and downtime.