Abstract: In the production of medium carbon steel wire rod, upon leaving the hot rolling mill, the rod is cooled in two phases. The first phase is operative as the rod moves at end-of-rolling speed along a cooling line disposed between the finishing block and feed rollers disposed at the entry of a head for placing the rod in overlapping turns on a conveyor, the cooling line being continuous--i.e. being devoid of air cooling breaks between consecutive intensive cooling sections, the length and capacity of the cooling line being such that the surface temperature of the rod at the end of the first phase is between, on the one hand, the start-of-martensitic-transformation temperature for the particular steel concerned and, on the other hand, the latter temperature plus 200.degree. C.

Abstract: A process for producing rolled steel products, especially reinforcing rod for concrete or other elements to be encased in concrete and having good weldability, a high yield strength and high energy absorption for the Charpy V impact test at very low temperatures comprising forming a silicon and aluminum containing steel whose carbon content (C), manganese content (MN), and niobium content (NB) are related by the relationship set forth below. The steel blank is rolled so that the last three passes result in more than 20% of the total cross section reduction, these rolling passes are carried out so that the temperature T1 before, the temperature T2 during, and the temperature T3 after rolling are also related to the diameter D in the manner set forth below to yield a high yield strength LE and a high energy absorption expressed as KCV at -120.degree. C. The relationships are:LE=1035+510 C+192 MN+2270 NB-0.21 T1-0.42 T2-0.48 T3-3.51 DandKCV=2202-2066 C+23.20 MN-2064 NB-0.77 T1-1.24 T2-0.23 T3-1.98 D.