Effect of Modifying the Chemical Composition

on the Properties of Spring Steel

B. PODGORNIK, F. TEHOVNIK, J. BURJA, and B. SENČIČ

The aim of the present work was to experimentally examine the effect of modifying the chemical
composition on the properties of Si-Cr-V spring steel. The investigation was based on a
commercial 51CrV4 spring steel, with its composition modified in terms of Si, Cr, and V
contents, targeting a yield strength of over 2000 MPa in the tempered condition. The
experimental evaluation included decarburization and scale resistance, tensile properties,
fracture toughness, and fatigue resistance. The results show that the simulation software gave
greatly exaggerated values when it comes to the yield-strength prediction and the influence of
the steel’s composition. In terms of experimental results, the most influential element in terms of
improving the decarburization resistance, the yield and tensile strengths, the fracture toughness,
and most importantly the fatigue limit and the fatigue life is Si, followed by Cr, while increasing
the amount of V has a mainly negative effect. However, when the Si content exceeds 1.6 pct, this
leads to an increased decarburization depth and a drop in the tensile properties.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-018-4713-1
 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and ASM International 2018

I. INTRODUCTION strength should not degrade other properties such as the

INCREASING demands from the automotive indus-
try for performance improvement, environment preser-
vation, weight reduction, and cost savings put a lot of
pressure on vehicles’ components, which require new
design concepts and the use of new, advanced materi-
als.[1] In this respect, weight reduction is very important
as it reduces costs, but more importantly it also reduces
fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.[2] The biggest fuel
consumers and polluters are trucks, where the redesign
and use of high-strength leaf springs can bring consid-
erable economic and energy-related benefits. The para-
bolic leaf springs used in the suspension systems of
trucks’ front axles are usually made of two leafs, which
support the weight of the trailer and provide the spring
function in the suspension system. With new spring
designs, eventually aiming at a mono-leaf solution,
savings of over 20 pct of the total weight of the spring
can be expected.[3] Besides a lower weight, the reduced
dimensions also allow for an increased design flexibility,
making room for additional safety components. How-
ever, the mono-leaf spring design requires high- or even
ultra-high-strength steel, with a yield strength of over
2000 MPa,[4,5] where an improvement in the tensile
B. PODGORNIK, F. TEHOVNIK, and J. BURJA are with the
Institute of Metals and Technology, Lepi pot 11, 1000 Ljubljana,
Slovenia. Contact e-mail: bojan.podgornik@imt.si B. SENČIČ is with
ŠTORE STEEL d.o.o., Železarska cesta 3, Štore, Slovenia.
Manuscript submitted November 29, 2017.
toughness and the fatigue resistance.[6–8] Moreover,
maintaining high reliability should be the first priority.
The typical yield and ultimate tensile strengths of
commercial Si-Cr-V-type spring steels, quenched and
tempered at about 400 C, are 1500 to 1600 and 1700 to
1900 MPa, respectively.
In the case of spring steels, the emphasis in materials
research has been focused on increasing the strength
while maintaining good ductility, toughness, and fatigue
properties.[9] An improved strength of the spring steel
can be achieved by controlling the alloying composition,
an effective heat treatment, micro-alloying, a thermo-
mechanical treatment, and shot-peening.[9–14] Important
gains in terms of strength improvement are achievable
by lowering the tempering temperature; however, this
also reduces the material’s ductility and toughness.[11,15]
Thus, commercial steel grades cannot be used above
certain strength levels because they do not fulfill the
ductility and toughness levels imposed by the spring’s
design requirements.[6] Another way of improving the
spring steel’s strength is by grain refinement,[6,11,12] as
part of an optimized thermomechanical treatment and
possible micro-alloying. Furthermore, the addition of
certain alloying elements has been reported to effectively
improve spring steel’s strength as well as the sag
resistance.[9] However, if done wrongly it can result in
a degradation rather than an improvement in the
properties.
The most common alloying elements found in spring
steels include Si, Cr, Mo, Mn, Ni, V, Nb, and B. Si was
found to improve the properties through the refinement

METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A

of tempered carbides obtained by the retardation of the After melting 18 kg of 51CrV4 steel, different ferroalloys
e-carbide’s conversion to cementite during temper- were added to the melt to obtain the reference compo-
ing.[9,16] However, its negative effect on the surface sition (S0) and to modify the Si, Cr, and V contents. The
decarburization and toughness limits the maximum target reference composition resulting in a yield strength
content to 1.5 or 2.0 pct.[9] The beneficial effects of of over 2000 MPa after tempering between 350 C and
other alloying additions, such as Mn for hardenability, 500 C was predetermined using JMatPro 6.2 (ASTM
and Cr, Mo, and Ni for better ductility, have been grain size 10, quenching speed 7.2 C/s) and Harden-
reported from as early as 1950.[17] The addition of Nb ability 2.2.6 software (vacuum heat treatment and
and V has also been reported as being beneficial due to nitrogen quenching at 6 bar). Thermo-Calc software
the precipitation and dispersion of fine micro-alloyed with TCFE5 was used for the thermodynamic calcula-
carbo-nitrides.[7] By forming very fine precipitates dur- tions. In terms of composition modification, the Si
ing the hot rolling, the micro-alloying elements retard content was varied from 1.0 to 1.6 pct, the Cr from 1.5
the recovery and recrystallization of the austenite. A to 1.8 pct, and the V from 0.20 to 0.40 pct. The target
beneficial effect is also provided by boron, which can and the actually obtained compositions are given in
suppress the intergranular fracture by excluding the Table I. Casting of the melt into a metallic mold with
segregation of impurity elements such as phosphorous at dimensions of 60 9 60 9 400 mm was followed by hot
the grain boundaries and consequently strengthening the rolling the ingots from 1150 C to a thickness of 20 mm,
grain boundaries.[16] A further improvement in the obtained through five successive rolling passes. The
tensile properties can be obtained through the deforma- hot-rolled blocks with a final temperature of
tion of the austenite prior to the quenching.[11] This 900 ± 10 C were then air-cooled and soft annealed
improvement is related to refined austenite grains and to (@850 C/4 hour).
the austenite grain substructure. These conditions are Standard tensile (D10; ISO 6892-1—Annex D), cir-
reflected in a finer structure of the martensite, i.e., a cumferentially notched and fatigue pre-cracked tensile
refined block size, with no or refined carbides at the bar (CNPTB), and Charpy V-notch (CVN; ISO 148-1)
prior austenite grain boundaries. specimens were taken from the hot-rolled and soft-an-
Although numerous studies [5,7,9,11,16,17] have revealed nealed blocks (20 9 80 9 800 mm) in the rolling direc-
the effect of alloying elements on the sag resistance of tion. All the specimens were then vacuum heat treated in
spring steels, detailed information about the relationship a vacuum furnace with uniform high-pressure
between microstructure modification and the different gas-quenching using nitrogen gas at a pressure of
properties important for the performance of leaf springs 5 bar. After heating to the austenitizing temperature of
needs further attention. The fatigue behavior of spring 880 C (10 C/min), the specimens were soaked for
steels has been studied extensively in terms of the S-N 10 minutes, gas quenched to a temperature of 60 C
(alternating stress vs number of cycles to failure) prop- (k800-500 = 0.42), and then single tempered for 1 hour at
erties.[8,10] However, other properties of high-strength 375 C. In order to study the decarburization and scale
spring steel are also important to designers, including the
decarburization depth, the yield and ultimate tensile
strengths, the elongation, and the impact and fracture Table I. Target and Obtained Compositions
toughness. Furthermore, although different software
tools can be used to model and predict the effect of the Element
steel’s composition and heat treatment on the hardness
Batch C Si Mn Cr Mo V
and ultimate tensile strength, the effects are often exag-
gerated and can deviate greatly from the experimental S0
results. Although the effect of different alloying elements Target 0.5 1.0 0.7 1.6 0.3 0.3
on the strength and sag resistance of spring steels has been Obtained 0.49 0.96 0.69 1.64 0.25 0.28
well investigated, the research was mainly focused on the S1
effect of individual alloying elements. Therefore, the aim Target 0.5 1.3 0.7 1.6 0.3 0.3
Obtained 0.47 1.32 0.67 1.69 0.30 0.30
of the present study was to experimentally examine and
S2
correlate the mutual influence of the chemical composi- Target 0.5 1.6 0.7 1.6 0.3 0.3
tion modification in terms of the Si, Cr, and V contents on Obtained 0.49 1.64 0.69 1.64 0.29 0.29
the properties of Si-Cr-V spring steel. C1
Target 0.5 1.0 0.7 1.5 0.3 0.3
Obtained 0.48 1.08 0.68 1.48 0.28 0.31
C2
II. EXPERIMENTAL Target 0.5 1.0 0.7 1.8 0.3 0.3
Obtained 0.50 1.01 0.73 1.81 0.29 0.30
A. Material V1
Target 0.5 1.0 0.7 1.6 0.3 0.2
The starting material used in this investigation was
Obtained 0.49 0.98 0.73 1.64 0.30 0.17
commercial 51CrV4 spring steel with the following V2
composition (wt pct): 0.50 pct C, 0.30 pct Si, 0.95 pct Target 0.5 1.0 0.7 1.6 0.3 0.4
Mn, 1.00 pct Cr, and 0.15 pct V. The steel melt was Obtained 0.45 1.04 0.78 1.65 0.31 0.39
produced under normal atmospheric conditions using a
20-kg-capacity, medium-frequency induction furnace. Italics indicate the element modified.

METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A

resistance, block specimens (18 9 18 9 18 mm)
machined from hot-rolled blocks were annealed in a
conventional quenching furnace at 960 C for
110 minutes.
B. Tensile Properties and Fracture Toughness
The effect of the composition modification on the
mechanical properties of the 51CrV4-based spring steel
included tensile tests and measurements of the hardness
and the fracture toughness. Tensile tests at room
temperature (21 ± 0.5 C; ISO 6892-1) were performed
on standard cylindrical specimens with a diameter of
10 mm and a gauge length of 50 mm using an Instron
8802 tensile-test machine. The measurements involved
the yield strength Rp0.2, the ultimate tensile strength Rm,
the elongation A5, and the contraction Z.
For the fracture-toughness measurement, non-stan-
dard CNPTB specimens[18] were used (Figure 1), with a
fatigue pre-crack of about 0.5 mm created under rotat-
ing-bending loading (600 N, 4500 cycles) before the final
heat treatment. Using the Instron 8802 tensile-test
machine and a cross-head speed of 1.0 mm/min, the
load at fracture was measured and the fracture tough-
ness KIc calculated using Eq. [1][19]:
 
P D
KIc ¼ 3=2 1:27 þ 1:72  ; ½1
D d
where P is the load at failure, D is the outside
non-notched diameter (10 mm), and d is the diameter
of the brittle fractured area. Equation [1] is valid for
0.5 < d/D < 0.8 and linearly elastic behavior, as exhib-
ited by all the investigated specimens.
For each cylindrical specimen, the Rockwell-C hard-
ness (HRc) was also measured using an Instron B2000
hardness machine and the average values from up to six
measurements were calculated.
φ7,1
φ10
φ18
φ12
L0= 50
Lv= 60
15 10
Lt = 120
detail L0
P D d P with the amount of M3C2 carbides being the largest in
60°
Fig. 1—Circumferentially notched and pre-cracked tension bar
specimen.
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A
C. Fatigue Properties
The fatigue properties of the reference 51CrV4-based
spring steel and the spring steel with modified Si, Cr,
and V contents were determined under bending loading
conditions. The bending-fatigue tests were performed at
room temperature on a Rumul Cracktronic resonant
machine using CVN test specimens and a constant
amplitude bending stress, ranging between 330 and
480 MPa. The testing resonant stress frequency was
175 Hz using a sinusoidal waveform at a stress ratio R
of 0.1. The criterion for specimen failure was a drop in
the inherent oscillation by more than 3 pct, where
fatigue cracks occurred at a depth of up to 3 mm.
III. RESULTS
A. Thermodynamic Calculations
The results of the Thermo-Calc calculations are
shown in Figure 2. The analysis for the reference S0
batch shows that the MC carbide precipitation occurs
below 1100 C; however, the amounts are well below
0.01 mol per mol of steel at temperatures higher than
Ae3. A significant amount of cementite is stable below
Ae1 and this rapidly decreases with a decrease in
temperature, where it is completely replaced by MC
and M7C3-type carbides (Figure 2(a)). The increase in Si
(Figure 2(b)) slightly increases the Ae1 and Ae3 temper-
atures, as well as the temperature for the MC carbide
precipitation, but has no obvious effect on the amount
of stable carbides (increasing MC and decreasing
M7C3). When the amount of chromium is lowered
(batch C1, Figure 2(c)), the stability of the MC is
slightly increased, the stability range of the cementite is
wider, and the amount of M7C3-type carbides is
reduced. On the other hand, increasing chromium
narrows the cementite’s stability range, decreases the
amount of MC, and increases the amount of M7C3 and
especially M3C2-type carbides (Figure 2(d)). Finally, the
decrease in vanadium has a direct effect on lowering the
VC carbide-precipitation temperatures, as well as
slightly decreasing the Ae1 and Ae3 temperatures. On
the other hand, the amount of cementite being
stable just below Ae1 is increased, as shown in
Figure 2(e). The increase in the amount of vanadium
has the opposite effect, narrowing the cementite’s
stability range, increasing the precipitation temperatures
and the amount of VC, as well as the amount of
stable M3C2 carbides, although this is still a very small
amount (Figure 2(f)).
The Thermo-Calc calculations predicted the stability
of the (Fe,Cr)7C3 and (V,Cr)C carbides at 375 C for all
seven batches. There is also a very small amount of
stable (Cr,V)3C2 carbides in S0, S1, S2, C1, V2, and C2,
V2 and C2. However, these carbides are stable below
350 C, as shown in Figure 3. In the case of batches S0,
S1, S2, and C1, the volume of M3C2 carbides at 300 C
is below 0.002 cm3/100 g of steel, with the carbides not
being stable above 300 C. By increasing the V content
(batch V2), the M3C2 carbides become stable up to
Fig. 2—Thermo-Calc results for different batches: (a) S0, (b) S2, (c) C1, (d) C2, (e) V1, and (f) V2.

METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A

315 C and their volume at 300 C increases to about
0.035 cm3/100 g of steel. However, the highest volume
of M3C2 carbides (~ 0.10 cm3/100 g of steel at 300 C)
being stable even above 340 C is predicted for batch C2
with the highest Cr content (Figure 3).
B. Microstructure
The microstructure of the reference S0 spring steel in
the tempered condition (tempered at 375 C) is shown in
Figure 4. The microstructure consists of tempered
martensite and clearly visible segregations. A similar
microstructure for the tempered martensite was
obtained for all the spring steel batches produced
(Table I), regardless of the compositional modification.
However, the composition modification resulted in a
different segregations density as well as in the coarseness
of the martensite laths. The least distinctive segregations
and the coarsest martensite laths were observed in the
case of batch S2 with the highest Si content and the
finest martensite laths for C1 and V1 with the reduced
Fig. 3—Equilibrium volume of M3C2 carbides per 100 grams of
steel at different temperatures.
Fig. 4—Microstructure of the reference spring steel batch S0; (a) OM and (b) SEM micrographs.
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A
Cr and V contents (Figure 5). On the other hand, there
were no significant differences in the sample microstruc-
tures when it comes to the type and size of carbides, as
shown in Figure 6. This is in agreement with the results
of the Thermo-Calc calculations and the work of Saito
et al.[20] showing that the carbide-forming elements Mo,
W, V, and Cr show little effect on the precipitation rate
and the behavior of the tempered e-carbides.
C. Decarburization and Scale
The results of the decarburization depth, being
identified for all the specimens as only partial decarbur-
ization,[21] and the scale-thickness measurements are
shown in Figure 7. For the reference batch S0, the
decarburization depth and the scale thickness after
110 minutes of annealing at 960 C were about 0.2 mm.
Increasing the Si content reduced the scale thickness to
below 0.1 mm, but increased the decarburization depth
to more than 0.25 mm. An increased Cr content had the
opposite effect, i.e., increasing the scale thickness and
reducing the decarburization depth, while an increased
V content reduced both the decarburization depth and
the scale thickness, as shown in Figure 7. The alloying
elements influence the scale formation and decarburiza-
tion due to their effect on the ferrite-to-austenite
transformation temperature, the activity of the carbon
in solution, the diffusion coefficient of the carbon in
solution, the oxidation characteristics of the iron, and
the alloying elements’ affinity for oxygen.[22] Chromium
and silicon have greater affinities for oxygen than the
base metal, and so form protective scales. The silicon
diffuses from the steel into the oxide scale forming SiO2
and Fe2SiO4 between the top FeO layer and the metal
surface,[21] with both oxides reducing the scaling rate.
Furthermore, increasing the Si content further decreases
the oxide-formation rate and results in a denser oxide
layer, thus improving the high-temperature oxidation
resistance. At higher silicon contents the supply of
silicon resulting from the outward diffusion from the
metal to the reaction front is more dominant than the
oxygen diffusion inwards to form iron oxide in the areas
denuded of silicon.[23] Chromium also concentrates in
Fig. 5—Microstructure of (a) C1 and (b) S2 spring steel batch.
Fig. 6—SEM-COMPO micrographs of (a) S0, (b) S1, and (c) V2 spring steel batch.
Fig. 7—Decarburization depth and scale thickness.
the oxide scale, forming Cr2O3 and FeCr2O4, and thus in
general reducing the scaling rate. However, the effect of
Cr depends on its concentration and overall alloy
composition. On the other hand, as reported by Mar-
don,[22] the scaling rates are hardly affected by Mn, Mo,
and V.
According to the phase diagram, the austenite is not
stable and has to separate out some ferrite to regain
equilibrium when the carbon concentration decreases to
the equilibrium concentration of the austenite at the
interface of the ferrite and austenite at a given temper-
ature above A3. Meanwhile, the carbon is transported to
the phase-transformation front from the inner austenite
and the carbon in the front is transported to the surface.
In the case of complete decarburization, the ferrite
grains grow perpendicular to the surface, while in
partially decarburized layers the ferrite grains form
along the pre-austenite grain boundaries.[21] In this
process, the silicon expands the a-field and increases the
carbon activity in the solid solution, and therefore the
tendency for carbon to diffuse along the ferrite grain
boundaries to the scale/metal interface, thus increasing
the decarburization. Chromium, on the other hand,
shrinks the a-field, reduces the carbon activity in
solution and its diffusion to the surface, and therefore
tends to reduce the decarburization rate.[21] The reduced
decarburization rate observed for a high V content is
considered to be due to an increased number of
vanadium carbides that pin the ferrite grain boundaries,
thus preventing the formation of a columnar grain
structure and the subsequent direct path for carbon
transport to the surface.[22] Therefore, the best
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A
combination in terms of decarburization depth and scale
thickness can be expected for a high V content, while
keeping the Si and Cr contents below 1.6 pct.
D. Tensile Properties
Although the simulations performed with the com-
mercial software Hardenability 2.2.6 and JMatPro 6.2
indicated yield and ultimate tensile strengths of over
2000 MPa to be obtainable for modified 51CrV4-based
spring steel (Table II), the measurements revealed much
lower values, but still comparable to the available
literature data. This can be attributed to several reasons.
The main one is that most modeling software does not
take synergistic effects into account, but is based on the
superposition principle, which tends to give overesti-
mated values. Besides that, the different phenomena
taking place in the production of steel also influence the
final mechanical properties. These include segregations
of the alloying elements, like C, Si, Mn, and Cr, and
non-metallic inclusion formation, such as aluminates,
silicates, and manganese sulfides. The segregation bands
are reduced by reheating and hot rolling, with the
reduction ratios in the industrial processes being more
than 20:1, compared to 3:1 for the laboratory hot-work-
ing process used in the current work. On the other hand,
the non-metallic inclusions that result in reduced
mechanical properties cannot be eliminated after
casting.
In the case of the vacuum heat-treated reference S0
spring steel, the obtained yield strength was 1630 MPa,
the ultimate tensile strength was 1890 MPa, the elonga-
tion was 2.75 pct, and the hardness was 52.3 HRc.
Increasing the Si content to 1.3 pct (S1) improved the
tensile properties, increasing the yield strength to about
1750 MPa and the hardness to 53.3 HRc.
Silicon dissolves in iron and tends to strengthen it,
thus increasing the steel’s strength and hardness via a
solid-solution mechanism.[24] Moreover, Si influences
the distribution and shape of the precipitates during
tempering, leading to a refinement of the tempered
carbides. It delays the transition of the e-carbides to
cementite by postulating the existence of Si in the
carbide, and suppresses the formation and growth of
cementite at boundaries by the formation of a Si layer
around it.[17,25] Owen et al.[26] also reported that Si
increases the temperature at which e-carbides are dis-
solved. In other words, the addition of Si stabilizes the
e-carbides and increases the strength of spring steel.
However, a too high Si concentration can lead to
pronounced decarburization and cracking problems,
thus resulting in a drop in the tensile properties, as
shown in Figure 8. Cr has been found to be a strong
carbide former when added in concentrations above
0.7 pct in Si spring steel,[5] at the same time showing
only little effect on the precipitation rate of e-car-
bides.[9,20] However, it has a strong tendency to form

Table II. Hardenability and JMatPro Simulation Results

Hardenability JMatPro

Batch Rp0.2* (MPa) Rm* (MPa) R+

p0.2 (MPa) R+
m (MPa) HRc +
Ae1 (C) Ae3 (C) MS (C) M90 (C)
S0
Planned 2066 2210 1914 2100 58.6 777.6 785.1 292.6 171.6
Obtained 2024 2176 1901 2088 58.5 777.1 784.3 295.2 174.5
S1
Planned —1 —1 1928 2112 58.8 785.2 793.9 289.3 168.0
Obtained —1 —1 1870 2060 58.1 786.9 800.8 299.2 178.8
S2
Planned —1 —1 1922 2107 58.8 792.9 803.4 285.9 164.2
Obtained —1 —1 1909 2095 58.6 794.6 806.1 287.8 166.3
C1
Planned 2058 2228 1899 2086 58.5 776.1 785.9 294.3 173.5
Obtained 2039 2182 1826 2021 57.7 775.8 790.7 303.6 183.7
C2
Planned 2050 2216 1936 2119 58.9 780.4 783.6 289.3 167.9
Obtained 2064 2237 1938 2122 59.0 780.3 784.9 287.9 166.4
V1
Planned 1947 2092 1972 2152 59.4 778.1 780.6 283.3 161.2
Obtained 1847 1997 1970 2150 59.3 777.7 779.6 282.2 160.0
V2
Planned —2 —2 1845 2038 57.8 777.2 789.7 301.6 181.5
Obtained —2 —2 1732 1936 56.2 777.1 798.3 313.1 194.3
Ae1 temperature of phase change at equilibrium (onset of austenite formation on heating), Ae3 temperature of phase change at equilibrium
(completion of austenite formation on heating), MS martensite transformation start temperature, M90 90 pct completion of martensite
transformation temperature.
*Tempered at 500 C (hardenability limitation).
+
As quenched.
1
Max Si content limited to 1.0 pct.
2
Max V content limited to 0.30 pct.

METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A

hard and stable carbides. This means that for a given volume of carbides is beneficial for a secondary hard-
hardness level chromium steels require somewhat higher ening peak during tempering, but in the case of low
tempering temperatures or longer tempering times. This tempering temperatures the formation of carbides pro-
effect increases with increasing Cr content.[27] Thus, in motes the relieving of stresses and increases elongation.
the present case Cr mainly influenced the elongation, at In the case of silicon, the additions slightly decrease the
high Cr contents (C2) giving up to two times higher overall volume of stable carbides and retard carbide
values than the reference steel. On the other hand, formation. Therefore, the martensite will retain slightly
increasing the V content had no effect or even a slightly more carbon and will in turn have a higher hardness
negative effect, on the yield and ultimate tensile combined with good elastic properties. However, at too
strengths, at the same time reducing the elongation high silicon contents a decrease in the overall volume of
(Figure 8). In general, adding carbide formers such as V carbides combined with an increased VC:Cr7C3 ratio
and Nb, which induce the precipitation of M3C, M2C, can even result in a further drop in the tensile properties.
and MCx-type particles, promote the precipitation As shown in Figure 10, modifications resulting in an
strengthening. The precipitation of fine MC particles, improved yield strength and the elongation of the spring
which takes place during hot rolling, retards the grain steel include increased Si and/or Cr contents (S1, C1,
growth and serves the purpose of grain refinement.[5] and C2), while keeping the V content at 0.2 pct.
Therefore, compared to Si-Cr spring steels the improve- However, the Si content should be kept below 1.5 to
ment in the tensile strength and the elongation observed 1.6 pct.
for Si-Cr-V steels is attributed to the strengthening effect
of fine vanadium carbide or carbo-nitride precipitates
due to austenite grain-boundary pinning, retardation of
the recrystallization, and dispersion strengthening.[11,28]
However, simply increasing the V content in Si-Cr-V
spring steels can have a detrimental effect. Vanadium
additions stabilize the MC-type carbides in the austen-
ite, and therefore reduce the number of carbides that
precipitate during tempering. Vanadium carbides also
lower the volume of Fe and Cr carbides that precipitate
during tempering at lower temperatures (375 C), thus
resulting in a reduced Si-Cr-V-type spring steel strength.
The reduced elongation in the case of V2 can be
attributed to the need for higher tempering tempera-
tures, due to the increased amount of equilibrium VC
carbides. The Thermo-Calc comparison of the volume
of carbides per 100 g of steel for all chemical compo-
sitions at 375 C is shown in Figure 9. Thermodynamic
calculations show that an increase in the vanadium
content does not increase the overall volume of the
carbides in the matrix, but increases the VC:Cr7C3 ratio,
whereas an increase in the Cr content increases the
overall volume of carbides, as does a decrease in the V
content, consequently leading to higher strength. This is Fig. 9—Equilibrium volume of carbides per 100 grams of steel at
due to the fact that Cr7C3 carbides have a higher 375 C.
metal-to-carbon ratio and simply means that the same
amount of carbon will consume more of the car-
bide-forming elements. The formation of a larger

Fig. 10—Acceptable window of tensile properties (Rp0.2 ‡ 1650 MPa

Fig. 8—Tensile properties of modified spring steel batches. & A5 ‡ 2.5 pct).

METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A

Fig. 11—Fracture toughness of modified spring steel batches.
E. Fracture Toughness
The fracture-toughness results are shown in
Figure 11. By increasing the Si content from 1.0 to
1.3 pct and 1.6 pct, resulting in the refinement of the
tempered carbides,[17,25] the fracture toughness increased
from 27 to 31.5 MPa m1/2 and 40 MPa m1/2, respec-
tively. Increasing the Cr content to 1.8 pct elevated the
fracture toughness, but due to the increased overall
volume of carbides at a much lower rate, to about
30 MPa m1/2. As reported by Furr et al.,[29] increasing
the amount of Cr in high-Si-content spring steels can
result in a decreased sag resistance. On the other hand, it
is known that the refinement of the austenite grain size
and an enhanced grain-boundary area, provided by
vanadium carbides, improve the toughness of marten-
sitic steels due to the refinement of the martensite packet
and block size.[11,30] Precipitation strengthening, on the
other hand, has a harmful effect on toughness, but at
least in part this can be overcome through grain
refinement.[27] Thus, an increased content of stable VC
carbides at high V contents can have the opposite effect,
as shown in Figure 11. In terms of fracture toughness,
the Si turns out to be the most influential element in
Si-Cr-V spring steels, which due to retarded carbide
formation, refinement of the tempered carbides, and the
lower volume of stable carbides reduces the overall
hardness, but greatly improves the fracture toughness.
F. Fatigue Resistance
The number of cycles until failure, i.e., the fatigue life
at three different bending stress levels, and the fatigue
limit for modified 51CrV4-based spring steel batches are
shown in Figures 12 and 13. The reference spring steel
(S0) failed after about 70,000, 40,000, and 15,000 cycles
when subjected to fatigue testing at the maximum stress
levels of 380, 430, and 480 MPa, respectively. In
agreement with the improved fracture toughness and
martensite strengthened by finely dispersed particles,
increasing the Si content improved the fatigue life,
especially at higher stress levels, extending the failure
time by more than 30 pct as the Si content reached
1.6 pct (Figure 12). Cr, on the other hand, had the
opposite effect, with higher Cr values leading to an
increased overall volume of carbides and a reduced
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A
Fig. 12—Bending-fatigue properties of modified spring steel batches.
Fig. 13—Effect of composition modification on the fatigue limit.
fatigue resistance, especially at high stress levels. For V,
higher values were found to give some improvement in
the fatigue resistance, but the improvement was below
10 pct.
In terms of the fatigue limit (Figure 13), both Si and
Cr improved the fatigue limit as their content was
increased to 1.6 and 1.8 pct, respectively. The improve-
ment in the fatigue limit was as high as 20 pct. On the
other hand, in the case of V no clear correlation between
the V content and the fatigue limit could be observed.
In accordance with the improved sag resistance, in
general being defined as the resistance to plastic defor-
mation during dynamic and static loading in service, the
improvement in the strength and fatigue properties of
the spring steel can be attributed to the change in the
prior austenite grain size and the distribution of the
precipitated particles.[9] A finer particle distribution
impedes the movement of mobile dislocations through
the lattice during straining, while a smaller grain size
hinders the dislocations due to the large number of grain
boundaries that act as pinning points, impeding further
dislocation propagation.[31] Si improves the fatigue
properties through the refinement of tempered carbides
as a result of the retardation of e-carbide conversion to
cementite during tempering.[11] The positive effect of Cr
is mainly related to the reduced decarburization,[32]
while any positive effect of V is mainly attributed to a
finer prior austenite grain size[5] achieved by stabilizing
the structure of austenite with a fine dispersion of springs. Proc. 2nd Int. Conf. Super-High Strength Steels, Peschiera
vanadium carbo-nitrides.[27,33] del Garda, Italy, 2010.
5. S. Choi: Optimization of Microstructure and Properties of High
Strength Spring Steel, Ph.D. Thesis, Posco, Korea, 2011.
6. A. Ardehali Barani, D. Ponge, and D. Raabe: Mater. Sci. Eng. A,
2006, vol. 426, pp. 194–201.
IV. CONCLUSIONS 7. C. Zhang, Y. Liu, C. Jiang, and J. Xiao: Int. J. Iron Steel Res.,
2011, vol. 18, pp. 49–53.
The main results of the present work are as follows: 8. B. Podgornik, V. Leskovšek, M. Godec, and B. Senčič: Mater. Sci.
 The most influencing element, altering the decar- Eng. A, 2014, vol. 599, pp. 81–86.
9. W.J. Nam, C.S. Lee, and D.Y. Ban: Mater. Sci. Eng. A, 2000,
burization depth and the scale thickness, the tensile vol. 289, pp. 8–17.
properties, and the fracture toughness, but most 10. C.S. Lee, K.A. Lee, D.M. Li, S.J. Yoo, and W.J. Nam: Mater. Sci.
importantly the fatigue life, was found to be Si, Eng. A, 1998, vol. 241, pp. 30–37.
followed by Cr. 11. A. Ardehali Barani, F. Li, P. Romano, D. Ponge, and D. Raabe:
Mater. Sci. Eng. A, 2007, vol. 463, pp. 138–46.
 Increasing the Si content by up to 1.6 pct led to a 12. J.H. Ai, T.C. Zhao, H.J. Gao, Y.H. Hu, and X.S. Xie: J. Mater.
reduced scale thickness, up to 10 pct increased yield Process. Technol., 2005, vol. 160, pp. 390–95.
and tensile strengths, and a more than 50 pct 13. P. Ganesh, R. Sundar, H. Kumar, R. Kaul, K. Ranganathan, P.
improvement in the fracture toughness, conse- Hedaoo, P. Tiwari, L.M. Kukreja, S.M. Oak, S. Dasari, and G.
quently resulting in a considerable improvement in Raghavendra: Opt. Lasers Eng., 2012, vol. 50, pp. 678–86.
14. B. Podgornik, M. Torkar, J. Burja, M. Godec, and B. Senčič:
the spring steel’s fatigue life and fatigue limit. Mater. Sci. Eng. A, 2015, vol. 638, pp. 183–89.
However, concentrations above 1.6 pct can result 15. J. Chen, M. Lv, Z. Liu, and G. Wang: Metall. Mater. Trans. A,
in an increased decarburization depth and a drop in 2016, vol. 47A, pp. 2300–12.
the tensile strength. 16. Y. Nie, W. Hui, W. Fu, and Y. Weng: Int. J. Iron Steel Res., 2007,
vol. 14, pp. 53–59.
 Cr had a similar, but less pronounced, effect, with 17. M. Assefpour-Dezfuly and A. Brownrigg: Metall. Mater. Trans. A,
the fracture-toughness and tensile-properties 1989, vol. 20A, pp. 1951–59.
improvement being below 10 pct. However, a dis- 18. B. Podgornik, B. Žužek, and V. Leskovšek: Mater. Perform.
tinctively positive effect of Cr on the elongation Charact., 2014, vol. 3, pp. 1–17.
resulted in a fatigue-limit improvement of about 19. S. Wei, Z. Tingshi, G. Daxing, L. Dunkang, L. Poliang, and Q.
Xiaoyun: Eng. Fract. Mech., 1982, vol. 16, pp. 69–82.
20 pct, but a reduced fatigue life at high stress levels. 20. N. Saito, K. Abiko, and H. Kimura: Mater. Trans. JIM, 1995,
On the other hand, an increase in the V content had vol. 36, pp. 601–09.
the opposite effect, having a negative influence on 21. Y. Liu, W. Zhang, Q. Tong, and Q. Sun: Int. J. Iron Steel Res.,
elongation, fracture toughness, and fatigue 2016, vol. 23, pp. 1316–22.
22. C. Mardon: The Austenitisation and Decarburisation of High Sili-
resistance. con Spring Steels, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Canterbury,
Christchurch, 1998.
23. C.W. Tuck: Corros. Sci., 1965, vol. 5, pp. 631–34.
24. R. Pradhan: Continuous Annealing of Steel, in: ASM Handbook,
vol. 4, Heat treating, 10th ed., ASM International, 1998, pp.
122–46.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT 25. W.-J. Nam and H.-C. Choi: J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 1997, vol. 13,
pp. 568–74.
The authors acknowledge the financial support of 26. W.S. Owen: Trans. ASM, 1954, vol. 46, pp. 812–29.
the Slovenian Research Agency (Research Core Fund- 27. Hardenable Alloy Steels (Total Materia, Nov. 2002) http://www.
ing No. P2-0050) and the company Štore Steel d.o.o. totalmateria.com/page.aspx?ID=CheckArticle&site=kts&LN=
EN&NM=91. Accessed 25 March 2018.
28. T.N. Baker: Ironmak. Steelmak., 2016, vol. 43, pp. 264–307.
REFERENCES 29. S.T. Furr: J. Basic Eng., ASME, 1972, vol. 94, pp. 223–27.
30. J.W. Morris, Jr, Z. Guo, C.R. Krenn, and Y.-H. Kim: ISIJ Int.,
1. P. Mårtensson, D. Zenkert, and M. Åkermo: Compos. Struct., 2001, vol. 41, pp. 599–611.
2015, vol. 134, pp. 572–78. 31. M.E. Natishan: Mechanisms of Strength and Toughness in a
2. D.-H. Kima, H.-G. Kimb, and H.-S. Kim: Compos. Struct., 2015, Microalloyed Precipitation Hardened Steels, David Taylor
vol. 131, pp. 742–52. Research Center, Bethesda, 1989.
3. R.K. Rathore, E.N. Karlus, and R.L. Himte: Int. J. Eng. Res. 32. E. Gariboldi, W. Nicodemi, G. Silva, and M. Vedani: Metall. Sci.
Technol., 2014, vol. 3, pp. 1391–96. Technol., 1994, vol. 11, pp. 11–21.
4. F. Perrard, F. Charvieux, and J. Languillaume: A new spring steel 33. M. Ayada, M. Yuga, N. Tsuji, Y. Saito, and A. Yoneguti: ISIJ
with improved ductility dedicated for high strength parabolic leaf Int., 1998, vol. 38, pp. 1022–31.

METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A