Hot rolled steel wire rod or bar for machine structural use and method for producing the same

Abstract

The present invention provides a hot rolled steel wire rod or bar for machine structural use having, even when a spheroidizing annealing time is reduced, cold workability equal to that of the wire rods or bars treated through conventional spheroidizing annealing of a long treatment time, as a result of controlling a metallographic structure, and a method to produce the same: and relates to a hot rolled steel wire rod or bar for machine structural use, characterized in that; the wire rod or bar is made from a steel consisting of, in weight, 0.1 to 0.5% of C, 0.01 to 0.5% of Si, 0.3 to 1.5% of Mn, and the balance comprising Fe and unavoidable impurities and containing hardening elements as required; its microstructure consists of ferrite and pearlite; its ferrite crystal grain size number defined under Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) G 0552 is 11 or higher; the granular carbide 2 μm or less in circle-equivalent diameter and having an aspect ratio of 3 or less accounts for a percentage area of 3 to 15%; and its hardness (Hv) satisfies the expression below, 165 Ceq+73.5≦Hv≦195 Ceq+73.5 (where, Ceq=C%+1/7 Si%+1/5 Mn%+1/9 Cr%).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.