Patents by Inventor Kazuhiro Seto

Kazuhiro Seto has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20160186283
    Abstract: A high strength steel sheet having a high Young's modulus, the steel sheet having a chemical composition including, by mass %, C: 0.060% or more and 0.150% or less, Si: 0.50% or more and 2.20% or less, Mn: 1.00% or more and 3.00% or less, and one or both of Ti: 0.001% or more and 0.200% or less and Nb: 0.001% or more and 0.200% or less, in which the contents of C, N, S, Ti, and Nb satisfy the equation 500?C*?1300. The steel sheet has a microstructure including ferrite in an amount of 20% or more and martensite in an amount of 5% or more, in terms of area ratio, such that the average grain size of the ferrite is 20.0 ?m or less and the inverse intensity ratio of ?-fiber for ?-fiber is 1.00 or more in the ferrite and the martensite.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 16, 2014
    Publication date: June 30, 2016
    Applicant: JFE STEEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hidekazu MINAMI, Takeshi YOKOTA, Kazuhiro SETO
  • Patent number: 9284618
    Abstract: A high strength hot-rolled steel sheet with a tensile strength of not less than 590 MPa which exhibits excellent bake hardenability and stretch-flangeability has a chemical composition including, in terms of mass %, C at 0.040 to 0.10%, Si at not more than 0.3%, Mn at 1.7 to 2.5%, P at not more than 0.030%, S at not more than 0.005%, Al at not more than 0.1% and N at 0.006 to 0.025%, and microstructure wherein a bainite phase represents not less than 60%, the total of a ferrite phase and a pearlite phase represents not more than 10%, and the bainite phase includes grains among which cementite grains have been precipitated at not less than 1.4×104 grains/mm2 and the cementite grains have an average grain diameter of not more than 1.5 ?m.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2016
    Assignee: JFE Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Noriaki Kohsaka, Kazuhiro Seto, Hidetaka Kawabe, Yasushi Tanaka
  • Patent number: 9212411
    Abstract: A high-strength steel sheet includes a composition containing, in mass percent, 0.08% to 0.20% of carbon, 0.2% to 1.0% of silicon, 0.5% to 2.5% of manganese, 0.04% or less of phosphorus, 0.005% or less of sulfur, 0.05% or less of aluminum, 0.07% to 0.20% of titanium, and 0.20% to 0.80% of vanadium, the balance being iron and incidental impurities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2015
    Assignee: JFE Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Koichi Nakagawa, Takeshi Yokota, Kazuhiro Seto, Satoshi Kinoshiro, Yuji Tanaka, Katsumi Yamada, Tetsuya Mega, Katsumi Nakajima
  • Patent number: 9073292
    Abstract: A high strength galvanized steel sheet includes a steel sheet which is a base sheet and a galvanized layer on a surface of the steel sheet, the steel sheet has a composition including, by mass %, 0.08 to 0.15% of C, 0.5 to 1.5% of Si, 0.5 to 1.5% of Mn, 0.1% or less of P, 0.01% or less of S, 0.01 to 0.1% of Al, 0.005% or less of N, and the balance Fe with inevitable impurities, and a microstructure composed of 75 to 90% of a ferrite phase as a main phase and 10 to 25% of a second phase including at least pearlite in terms of an area fraction with respect to the entire microstructure; an average grain size of the pearlite is 5 ?m or smaller; and the pearlite has an area fraction of 70% or greater with respect to the total area of the second phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Assignee: JFE Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Kenji Kawamura, Hidetaka Kawabe, Kazuhiro Seto
  • Publication number: 20150101717
    Abstract: A slab has a steel composition including 0.020% to 0.065% of C, 0.1% or less of Si, 0.40% to less than 0.80% of Mn, 0.030% or less of P, 0.005% or less of S, 0.08% to 0.16% of Ti, 0.005% to 0.1% of Al, 0.005% or less of N, and the balance being Fe and incidental impurities, in which Ti*(=Ti?(48/14)×N) satisfies [Ti*?0.08] and [0.300?C/Ti*?0.375], is subjected to hot rolling to obtain a hot-rolled steel sheet in which the steel microstructure includes, in terms of area fraction, 95% or more of a ferrite phase; the average ferrite grain size is 10 ?m or less; the average grain size of Ti carbides precipitated in steel is 10 nm or less; and Ti in the amount of 80% or more of Ti* is precipitated as Ti carbides.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 26, 2012
    Publication date: April 16, 2015
    Applicant: JFE STEEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Noriaki Kosaka, Kazuhiro Seto, Hidetaka Kawabe
  • Patent number: 8951367
    Abstract: A cold rolled steel sheet with excellent bendability contains C at 0.15 to 0.30%, Si at 0.01 to 1.8%, Mn at 1.5 to 3.0%, P at not more than 0.05%, S at not more than 0.005%, Al at 0.005 to 0.05% and N at not more than 0.005%, the balance being Fe and inevitable impurities, and has a steel sheet superficial soft portion satisfying: Hv(S)/Hv(C)?0.8??(1) wherein Hv(S) is hardness of the steel sheet superficial soft portion, and Hv(C) is hardness of a steel sheet core portion, 0.10?t(S)/t?0.30??(2) wherein t(S) is thickness of the steel sheet superficial soft portion, and t is the sheet thickness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2015
    Assignee: JFE Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Kenji Kawamura, Kazuhiro Seto
  • Publication number: 20140332123
    Abstract: Provided are a high-strength steel sheet and a method for producing the same. A high-strength steel sheet has a composition containing 0.10% to 0.18% C, more than 0.5% to 1.5% Si, 0.5% to 1.5% Mn, 0.05% or less P, 0.005% or less S, and 0.05% or less Al on a mass basis, the remainder being Fe and inevitable impurities and also has a microstructure containing ferrite and pearlite. The volume fraction of the ferrite is 70% to 97%. The volume fraction of the pearlite is 3% or more. The volume fraction of cementite present at grain boundaries of the ferrite is 2% or less. The sum of the volume fractions of phases other than the ferrite, the pearlite, and the cementite is less than 3%. The average grain size of the ferrite is 7 ?m or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 29, 2012
    Publication date: November 13, 2014
    Applicant: JFE STEELCORPORATION
    Inventors: Kouichi Nakagawa, Kenji Kawamura, Takeshi Yokota, Kazuhiro Seto
  • Patent number: 8876987
    Abstract: A high strength pressed member has excellent ductility and stretch flangeability and tensile strength of 780-1400 MPa, with a predetermined steel composition and steel microstructure relative to the entire microstructure of steel sheet, where area ratio of martensite 5-70%, area ratio of retained austenite 5-40%, area ratio of bainitic ferrite in upper bainite 5% or more, and total thereof is 40% or more, 25% or more of martensite is tempered martensite, polygonal ferrite area ratio is above 10% and below 50% to the entire microstructure of steel sheet, and average grain size is 8 ?m or less, average diameter of a group of polygonal ferrite grains is 15 ?m or less, the group of polygonal ferrite grains represented by a group of ferrite grains of adjacent polygonal ferrite grains, and average carbon content in retained austenite is 0.70 mass % or more and tensile strength is 780 MPa or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 4, 2014
    Assignee: JFE Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroshi Matsuda, Yoshimasa Funakawa, Kaneharu Okuda, Kazuhiro Seto
  • Publication number: 20140242416
    Abstract: A high strength pressed member has excellent ductility and stretch flangeability and tensile strength of 780-1400 MPa, with a predetermined steel composition and steel microstructure relative to the entire microstructure of steel sheet, where area ratio of martensite 5-70%, area ratio of retained austenite 5-40%, area ratio of bainitic ferrite in upper bainite 5% or more, and total thereof is 40% or more, 25% or more of martensite is tempered martensite, polygonal ferrite area ratio is above 10% and below 50% to the entire microstructure of steel sheet, and average grain size is 8 ?m or less, average diameter of a group of polygonal ferrite grains is 15 ?m or less, the group of polygonal ferrite grains represented by a group of ferrite grains of adjacent polygonal ferrite grains, and average carbon content in retained austenite is 0.70 mass % or more and tensile strength is 780 MPa or more.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 2, 2012
    Publication date: August 28, 2014
    Inventors: Hiroshi Matsuda, Yoshimasa Funakawa, Kaneharu Okuda, Kazuhiro Seto
  • Patent number: 8815025
    Abstract: A high strength steel, including about 0.05 to about 0.25% of C, less than about 0.5% of Si, about 0.5 to about 3.0% of Mn, not more than about 0.06% of P, not more than about 0.01% of S, about 0.50 to about 3.0% of Sol. Al, not more than about 0.02% of N, about 0.1 to about 0.8% of Mo, about 0.02 to about 0.40% of Ti, and the balance of iron and unavoidable impurities, wherein the steel has a structure formed of at least three phases including a bainite phase, and a retained austenite phase in addition to a ferrite phase having a composite carbide containing Ti and Mo dispersed and precipitated therein, wherein the total volume of the ferrite phase and the bainite phase is not smaller than 80%, the volume of the bainite phase is about 5% to about 60%, and the volume of the retained austenite phase is about 3 to about 20%.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2014
    Assignees: JFE Steel Corporation, ThyssenKrupp Steel AG
    Inventors: Takeshi Yokota, Akio Kobayashi, Kazuhiro Seto, Yoshihiro Hosoya, Thomas Heller, Brigitte Hammer, Rolf Bode, Günter Stich
  • Patent number: 8646301
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing a high strength hot rolled steel sheet includes heating a slab to a temperature in the range of 1150 to 1300° C.; hot rolling the slab with a finishing rolling temperature being in the range of 800 to 1000° C.; cooling the steel sheet at a mean cooling rate of 30° C./s or higher to a cooling termination temperature in the range of 525 to 625° C.; suspending cooling for a time period in the range of 3 to 10 seconds; cooling the steel sheet in such a manner that cooling of the steel sheet is nucleate boiling; and coiling the steel sheet at a temperature in the range of 400 to 550° C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2014
    Assignee: JFE Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Takeshi Yokota, Kazuhiro Seto, Satoshi Ueoka, Nobuo Nishiura, Yoichi Tominaga
  • Patent number: 8628630
    Abstract: A hot-pressed steel sheet member has a composition containing, by mass, C: 0.09% to 0.38%, Si: 0.05% to 2.0%, Mn: 0.5% to 3.0%, P: 0.05% or less, S: 0.05% or less, Al: 0.005% to 0.1%, N: 0.01% or less, Sb: 0.002% to 0.03%, and the balance being Fe and inevitable impurities, and having a tensile strength TS of 980 to 2,130 MPa.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2014
    Assignee: JFE Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Akio Kobayashi, Yoshimasa Funakawa, Kazuhiro Seto, Nobuyuki Kageyama, Tetsuo Yamamoto, Toru Hoshi, Takeshi Yokota
  • Publication number: 20130244056
    Abstract: A high strength galvanized steel sheet having excellent formability, includes a steel sheet which is a base sheet and a galvanized layer on a surface of the steel sheet, wherein the steel sheet is a high strength steel sheet which has a composition including, by mass %, 0.08 to 0.15% of C, 0.5 to 1.5% of Si, 0.5 to 1.5% of Mn, 0.1% or less of P, 0.01% or less of S, 0.01 to 0.1% of Al, 0.005% or less of N, and the balance Fe with inevitable impurities, and a microstructure composed of 75 to 90% of a ferrite phase as a main phase and 10 to 25% of a second phase including at least pearlite in terms of an area fraction with respect to the entire microstructure; an average grain size of the pearlite is 5 ?m or smaller; and the pearlite has an area fraction of 70% or greater with respect to the total area of the second phase.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2011
    Publication date: September 19, 2013
    Applicant: JFE STEEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kenji Kawamura, Hidetaka Kawabe, Kazuhiro Seto
  • Patent number: 8535458
    Abstract: A steel sheet contains, on a mass percent basis, 0.03%-0.12% C, 0.5% or less Si, 0.8%-1.8% Mn, 0.030% or less P, 0.01% or less S, 0.005%-0.1% Al, 0.01% or less N, 0.035%-0.100% Ti, and the balance being Fe and incidental impurities and has microstructures with a fraction of polygonal ferrite of 80% or more, the polygonal ferrite having an average grain size of 5 to 10 ?m. The amount of Ti present in a precipitate having a size of less than 20 nm is 70% or more of the value of Ti* calculated using expression (1): Ti*=[Ti]?48×[N]/14??(1) where [Ti] and [N] represent a Ti content (percent by mass) and a N content percent by mass), respectively, of the steel sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2013
    Assignee: JFE Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Noriaki Kohsaka, Kazuhiro Seto, Reiko Sugihara, Masahide Watabe, Yasushi Tanaka
  • Publication number: 20130233453
    Abstract: A thin high strength steel sheet having excellent formability has a composition which includes, by mass %, 0.08 to 0.15% of C, 0.5 to 1.5% of Si, 0.5 to 1.5% of Mn, 0.01 to 0.1% of Al, and 0.005% or less of N to form a hot rolled sheet is conducted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2011
    Publication date: September 12, 2013
    Applicant: JFE STEEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kenji Kawamura, Hidetaka Kawabe, Kazuhiro Seto, Noriyuki Katayama
  • Publication number: 20130199678
    Abstract: A high strength hot-rolled steel sheet with a tensile strength of not less than 590 MPa which exhibits excellent bake hardenability and stretch-flangeability has a chemical composition including, in terms of mass %, C at 0.040 to 0.10%, Si at not more than 0.3%, Mn at 1.7 to 2.5%, P at not more than 0.030%, S at not more than 0.005%, Al at not more than 0.1% and N at 0.006 to 0.025%, and microstructure wherein a bainite phase represents not less than 60%, the total of a ferrite phase and a pearlite phase represents not more than 10%, and the bainite phase includes grains among which cementite grains have been precipitated at not less than 1.4×104 grains/mm2 and the cementite grains have an average grain diameter of not more than 1.5 ?m.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 23, 2011
    Publication date: August 8, 2013
    Applicant: JFE STEEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Noriaki Kohsaka, Kazuhiro Seto, Hidetaka Kawabe, Yasushi Tanaka
  • Publication number: 20130160907
    Abstract: A steel is subjected to a hot rolling step, a cold rolling step, and an annealing step having a maximum achieving temperature: 800° C. to 900° C., two-step heating, and two-step cooling. The two-step heating includes first-step heating to (maximum achieving temperature—(10° C. to 50° C.)) at an average temperature raising rate: 0.5° C. to 5.0° C./s and second-step heating in which the temperature raising time from that temperature range to the maximum achieving temperature is specified to be 30 to 150 s. Two-step cooling includes first-step cooling to cool from the maximum achieving temperature at a cooling rate of 10° C. to 40° C./s and second-step cooling to cool to a temperature range of 400° C. to 500° C. at a cooling rate of 0.2 to 0.8 times the first-step cooling rate for a cooling time of 0.2 to 0.8 times the total cooling time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 5, 2011
    Publication date: June 27, 2013
    Inventors: Hidetaka Kawabe, Masanori Nishizawa, Kazuhiro Seto
  • Publication number: 20130048151
    Abstract: A cold rolled steel sheet with excellent bendability contains C at 0.15 to 0.30%, Si at 0.01 to 1.8%, Mn at 1.5 to 3.0%, P at not more than 0.05%, S at not more than 0.005%, Al at 0.005 to 0.05% and N at not more than 0.005%, the balance being Fe and inevitable impurities, and has a steel sheet superficial soft portion satisfying: Hv(S)/Hv(C)?0.8??(1) wherein Hv(S) is hardness of the steel sheet superficial soft portion, and Hv(C) is hardness of a steel sheet core portion, 0.10?t(S)/t?0.30??(2) wherein t(S) is thickness of the steel sheet superficial soft portion, and t is the sheet thickness.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 16, 2011
    Publication date: February 28, 2013
    Applicant: JFE STEEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kenji Kawamura, Kazuhiro Seto
  • Publication number: 20120216925
    Abstract: A hot-pressed steel sheet member has a composition containing, by mass, C: 0.09% to 0.38%, Si: 0.05% to 2.0%, Mn: 0.5% to 3.0%, P: 0.05% or less, S: 0.05% or less, Al: 0.005% to 0.1%, N: 0.01% or less, Sb: 0.002% to 0.03%, and the balance being Fe and inevitable impurities, and having a tensile strength TS of 980 to 2,130 MPa.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 19, 2010
    Publication date: August 30, 2012
    Applicant: JFE Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Akio Kobayashi, Yoshimasa Funakawa, Kazuhiro Seto, Nobuyuki Kageyama, Tetsuo Yamamoto, Toru Hoshi, Takeshi Yokota
  • Publication number: 20120138197
    Abstract: A steel sheet contains, on a mass percent basis, 0.03%-0.12% C, 0.5% or less Si, 0.8%-1.8% Mn, 0.030% or less P, 0.01% or less S, 0.005%-0.1% Al, 0.01% or less N, 0.035%-0.100% Ti, and the balance being Fe and incidental impurities and has microstructures with a fraction of polygonal ferrite of 80% or more, the polygonal ferrite having an average grain size of 5 to 10 ?m. The amount of Ti present in a precipitate having a size of less than 20 nm is 70% or more of the value of Ti* calculated using expression (1): Ti*=[Ti]?48×[N]/14??(1) where [Ti] and [N] represent a Ti content (percent by mass) and a N content percent by mass), respectively, of the steel sheet.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 11, 2010
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: JFE STEEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Noriaki Kohsaka, Kazuhiro Seto, Reiko Sugihara, Masahide Watabe, Yasushi Tanaka