With Working Patents (Class 148/648)
  • Patent number: 6299709
    Abstract: A blank with a closed profile is made of hardenable sheet steel and is hydroformed when hot. The tool is cooled and the blank is heated to a hardening temperature and formed so fast that it will not have time to harden before it contacts the tool and becomes rapidly cooled by the tool and by the liquid fluid so that it hardens. In this simple way, a product of high strength steel can be achieved which has a closed profile and complicated form. The product can be, for example, a bow-formed bumper.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2001
    Assignee: SSAB Hardtech AB
    Inventor: Erland Lundström
  • Patent number: 6290789
    Abstract: A steel pipe containing fine ferrite crystal grains, which has excellent toughness and ductility and good ductility-strength balance as well as superior collision impact resistance, and a method for producing the same are provided. A steel pipe containing super-fine crystal grains can be produced by heating a base steel pipe having ferrite grains with an average crystal diameter of di (&mgr;m), in which C, Si, Mn and Al are limited within proper ranges, and if necessary, Cu, Ni, Cr and Mo, or Nb, Ti, V, B, etc. are further added, at not higher than the Ac3 transformation point, and applying reducing at an average rolling temperature of &thgr;m (°C.) and a total reduction ration Tred (%) within s temperature range of from 400 to Ac3 transformation point, with di, &thgr;m and Tred being in a relation satisfying a prescribed equation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2001
    Assignee: Kawasaki Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Takaaki Toyooka, Akira Yorifuji, Masanori Nishimori, Motoaki Itadani, Yuji Hashimoto, Takatoshi Okabe, Taro Kanayama, Masahiko Morita, Saiji Matsuoka, Nobuki Tanaka, Osamu Furukimi, Takaaki Hira
  • Patent number: 6254698
    Abstract: An ultra-high strength, weldable, low alloy steel with excellent cryogenic temperature toughness in the base plate and in the heat affected zone (HAZ) when welded, having a tensile strength greater than about 830 MPa (120 ksi) and a microstructure comprising (i) predominantly fine-grained lower bainite, fine-grained lath martensite, fine granular bainite (FGB), or mixtures thereof, and (ii) up to about 10 vol % retained austenite, is prepared by heating a steel slab comprising iron and specified weight percentages of some or all of the additives carbon, manganese, nickel, nitrogen, copper, chromium, molybdenum, silicon, niobium, vanadium, titanium, aluminum, and boron; reducing the slab to form plate in one or more passes in a temperature range in which austenite recrystallizes; finish rolling the plate in one or more passes in a temperature range below the austenite recrystallization temperature and above the Ar3 transformation temperature; quenching the finish rolled plate to a suitable Quench Stop Temperat
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 1998
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2001
    Assignee: ExxonMobile Upstream Research Company
    Inventors: Jayoung Koo, Narasimha-Rao V. Bangaru, Glen A. Vaughn, Raghavan Ayer
  • Patent number: 6238498
    Abstract: A method for fabricating a homogeneous wire of inter-metallic alloy comprising the steps of providing a base-metal wire bundle comprising a metal, an alloy or a combination thereof; working the wire bundle through at least one die to obtain a desired dimension and to form a precursor wire; and, controllably heating the precursor wire such that a portion of the wire will become liquid while simultaneously maintaining its desired shape, whereby substantial homogenization of the wire occurs in the liquid state and additional homogenization occurs in the solid state resulting in a homogenous alloy product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2001
    Assignee: U T Battelle
    Inventors: Evan Keith Ohriner, Craig Alan Blue
  • Patent number: 6221179
    Abstract: A hot rolled steel sheet with improved formability and producing method therefor, which can be easily produced with general hot strip mills, having less anisotropy of mechanical properties and final ferrite grain diameter of less than 2 &mgr;m that could not be achieved by the prior art. The hot rolled steel sheet comprises a ferrite phase as a primary phase, and has an average ferrite grain diameter of less than 2 &mgr;m, with the ferrite grains having an aspect ratio of less than 1.5. The hot rolled steel sheet is obtained by carried out a reduction process under a dynamic recrystallization conditions through reduction passes of not less than 5 stands in the hot finish rolling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2001
    Assignee: Kawasaki Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Eiko Yasuhara, Masahiko Morita, Osamu Furukimi, Susumu Okada
  • Patent number: 6162307
    Abstract: This invention provides a ferritic heat-resistant steel that can improve HAZ softening resistance, can omit heat-treatment after welding and can reduce the construction cost of a power generation plant. This ferritic heat-resistant steel contains C: 0.01 to 0.06%, Si: 0.02 to 0.80%, Mn: 0.20 to 1.50%, Cr: 0.50 to 3.00%, Mo: 0.01 to 1.50%, W: 0.01 to 3.50%, V: 0.02 to 1.00%, Nb: 0.01 to 0.50%, N: 0.001 to 0.06%, B: 0.0003 to 0.008%, Ti: 0.001 to 0.5%, Zr: 0.001 to 0.5%, or containing one of Cu: 0.1 to 2.0%, Ni: 0.1 to 2.0% and Co: 0.1 to 2.0% either individually or in combination, and limiting P to not greater than 0.030%, S to not greater than 0.010% and O to not greater than 0.020%, wherein a weight ratio of TiN and BN in the steel is controlled to 1 to 100 in terms of a value (TiN+ZrN %)/(BN %), and a mean grain diameter of BN is not greater than 1 .mu.m.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2000
    Assignee: Nippon Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Yasushi Hasegawa, Taro Muraki
  • Patent number: 6159312
    Abstract: An ultra-high strength, weldable, low alloy, triple phase steel with excellent cryogenic temperature toughness in the base plate and in the heat affected zone (HAZ) when welded, having a tensile strength greater than about 830 MPa (120 ksi) and a microstructure comprising a ferrite phase, a second phase of predominantly lath martensite and lower bainite, and a retained austenite phase, is prepared by heating a steel slab comprising iron and specified weight percentages of some or all of the additives carbon, manganese, nickel, nitrogen, copper, chromium, molybdenum, silicon, niobium, vanadium, titanium, aluminum, and boron; reducing the slab to form plate in one or more passes in a temperature range in which austenite recrystallizes; further reducing the plate in one or more passes in a temperature range below the austenite recrystallization temperature and above the Ar.sub.3 transformation temperature; finish rolling the plate between the Ar.sub.3 transformation temperature and the Ar.sub.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2000
    Assignee: ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company
    Inventors: Jayoung Koo, Narasimha-Rao V. Bangaru, Raghavan Ayer, Glen A. Vaughn
  • Patent number: 6066212
    Abstract: An ultra-high strength, weldable, low alloy, dual phase steel with excellent cryogenic temperature toughness in the base plate and in the heat affected zone (HAZ) when welded, having a tensile strength greater than 830 MPa (120 ksi) and a microstructure comprising a ferrite phase and a second phase of predominantly lath martensite and lower bainite, is prepared by heating a steel slab comprising iron and specified weight percentages of some or all of the additives carbon, manganese, nickel, nitrogen, copper, chromium, molybdenum, silicon, niobium, vanadium, titanium, aluminum, and boron; reducing the slab to form plate in one or more passes in a temperature range in which austenite recrystallizes; further reducing the plate in one or more passes in a temperature range below the austenite recrystallization temperature and above the Ar.sub.3 transformation temperature; finish rolling the plate between the Ar.sub.3 transformation temperature and the Ar.sub.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2000
    Assignee: ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company
    Inventors: Jayoung Koo, Narasimha-Rao V. Bangaru
  • Patent number: 6063216
    Abstract: This invention relates to the working of a metallic strip. More particularly, the invention relates to a method of working a length of metallic strip by heat treating under tensile force, to a length of metallic strip and to an apparatus for use in working a length of metallic strip.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2000
    Assignee: Trico Products Corporation
    Inventors: Oliver F. R. A. Damm, Warwick John Green, Lillian Hristov Ivanchev, Walter Luigi Trevisan
  • Patent number: 6048416
    Abstract: Steel, steel wire, and a process for forming a drawn wire, especially tire-reinforcing wire of diameter smaller than 0.4 mm, by drawing a steel of the following composition by weight: 0.005%.ltoreq.carbon.ltoreq.0.050%; 0.005%.ltoreq.nitrogen.ltoreq.0.050%; 0.1%.ltoreq.silicon.ltoreq.2.0%; 0.1%.ltoreq.manganese.ltoreq.5%; 5%.ltoreq.nickel.ltoreq.12%; 10%.ltoreq.chromium.ltoreq.20%; 0.01%.ltoreq.copper.ltoreq.4%; 0.01%.ltoreq.molybdenum.ltoreq.3%,the base wire being subjected to:drawing to a cumulative deformation ratio .epsilon. of larger than 2 and smaller than 4,an intermediate annealing treatment at above 700.degree. C.final drawing to a cumulative deformation ratio .epsilon. of smaller than 4.5 and larger than 3.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2000
    Assignees: Ugine-Savoie Imphy, Sprint Metal - Societe de Production Internationale de Trefiles
    Inventors: Jean-Michel Hauser, Joel Marandel
  • Patent number: 6042662
    Abstract: This process makes it possible to manufacture articles of any shape by stamping, in which articles the matrix of the alloy has to have a coarse-grained structure. According to the invention, a partial hot-forming operation is carried out by stamping a blank made of an oxide-dispersion-strengthened alloy, especially a nickel-based alloy, having an initial ultrafine-grained structure, in order to form a shaped component, this shaped component is subjected to a secondary recrystallization heat treatment so as to develop an abnormal grain growth, and then a new hot-forming operation is carried out by stamping in order to give the recrystallized shaped component the final shape of the article.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2000
    Assignee: SEVA
    Inventor: Jean-Paul Bagard
  • Patent number: 6027587
    Abstract: Steel with ultrafine grains is produced by altering the transformation from one which normally proceeds with grain boundary nucleation followed by intragranular nucleation at deformation bands and other defects, to one which induces a substantially instantaneous transformation homogeneously over the austenite grain. This is favoured by a reduction or minimisation of grain boundary nucleation, (for example by enlargement of the austenite grain size), prior to or during the transformation. In an embodiment, a partially cooled austenite phase steel is deformed in a single pass at a temperature in the range of 700-950.degree. C. to obtain ferrite grain size of 5 .mu.m or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 1997
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2000
    Assignee: The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited
    Inventors: Peter Damian Hodgson, Mark Richard Hickson, Russell Keith Gibbs
  • Patent number: 5993571
    Abstract: A steel for machine structural use, essentially having the following chemical composition:C: 0.45-0.60 wt %,Si: 0.50-2.00 wt %,Mn: 0.10-0.30 (0.30 not inclusive) wt %,P: 0.01-0.10 wt %,S: 0.01-0.20 wt %,V: 0.08-0.15 wt %, andN: 0.0020-0.0050 (0.0050 not inclusive) wt %. The remainder is Fe and impurities inevitably included. The inner structure of the steel is a ferrite-pearlite structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 30, 1999
    Assignee: Isuzu Motors Limited and Nippon Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Hirohito Eto, Hiromasa Takada, Tetsuroh Hashiguchi, Osamu Ohyama
  • Patent number: 5989366
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a thick steel product of high strength and high toughness having excellent weldability with minimal variation of material properties, comprises heating a steel raw material to the temperature of Ac.sub.3 to 1350.degree. C., hot rolling and then cooling at the cooling rate of 10.degree. C./sec. or less. The steel raw material has the following composition:C: 0.001-0.25 wt %;Mn: 1.0-3.0 wt %;Ti: 0.005-0.20 wt %;Nb: 0.005-0.20 wt %;B: 0.0003-0.0050 wt %; andAl: 0.01-0.100 wt %balance substantially Fe and incidental impurities. The composition has a transformation start temperature (Bs) of 670.degree. C. or less. Since the steel product obtained by the method has no variation in physical properties regardless of variation in cooling rate, it is possible to supply steel products of high strength and high toughness which have uniform microstructure and properties along their thickness direction and are excellent in weldability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 23, 1999
    Assignee: Kawasaki Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Tohru Hayashi, Mitsuhiro Okatsu, Fumimaru Kawabata, Keniti Amano
  • Patent number: 5718776
    Abstract: In the present invention, a steel product having a specified composition comprising by weight C: 0.02 to 0.25%, Si: 0.01 to 2.0%, Mn: 0.30 to 1.5%, Al: 0.003 to 0.10%, Nb: 0.005 to 0.10%, and Mo: 0.05 to 1.00% with the balance consisting of Fe and unavoidable impurities is used to prepare a steel plate having a thickness of 3 to 100 mm (the upper limits of the Nb and Mo contents each being 0.025% particularly for a plate thickness of 3 to 25 mm), and the ratio of the yield stress of the steel plate at a temperature T, .sigma..sub.yT, to the yield stress of the steel plate at room temperature, .sigma..sub.y, over the temperature range of room temperature to 600.degree. C. is brought to a value falling within the following range:1.00-1.083.times.10.sup.-3 T<(.sigma..sub.yT /.sigma..sub.y)<1.16-5.101.times.10.sup.-4 T.Further, the constituents of a welding material are specified to bring the .gamma..sub.3 transformation temperature to below 620.degree. C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 1996
    Date of Patent: February 17, 1998
    Assignee: Nippon Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Atsuhiko Yoshie, Takashi Fujita, Yokimi Kawashima, Masaaki Nagahara, Kazuhiro Kojima, Tadashi Kasuya, Yukihiko Horii, Tsukasa Yoshimura
  • Patent number: 5704998
    Abstract: High strength steel structural members and a method of making same are disclosed by providing high-strength steel material having a specific chemical composition and preferably a tensile strength of at least about 120,000 psi and a yield strength of at least about 90,000 psi and hot rolling the steel material to provide the structural member of desired geometric configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 1995
    Date of Patent: January 6, 1998
    Assignee: Consolidated Metal Products, Inc.
    Inventor: Hugh M. Gallagher, Jr.
  • Patent number: 5632827
    Abstract: A aluminum alloy in the form of bulk includes an aluminum matrix and carbon particles having an average particle size of 100 nm or less and dispersed in the aluminum matrix in an amount of 1 to 40 atomic % with respect to the total atoms constituting the aluminum alloy. The aluminum alloy is produced by preparing a raw material comprising aluminum and carbon as components and forming an aluminum alloy by inserting the raw material into a cavity formed by a set of dies and applying repeatedly plastic deformation to the raw material while maintaining the temperature of the raw material in the range of from 100 to 400.degree. C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 27, 1997
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Chuo Kenkyusho
    Inventors: Hironori Fujita, Fumio Nonoyama, Atsushi Danno
  • Patent number: 5527401
    Abstract: The present invention is concerned about high toughness and high strength untempered steel having the mechanical properties equivalent to or better than those of tempered steel and processing method thereof, more particularly, the high toughness and high strength untempered steel having the tensile strength higher than 90 kgf/mm.sup.2 with the impact toughness higher than 5 kgf-m/cm.sup.2 in the KS 3 specimen, and processing method thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 1994
    Date of Patent: June 18, 1996
    Assignee: Samsung Heavy Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kang-Hyung Kim
  • Patent number: 5492576
    Abstract: A clutch diaphragm comprises a peripheral Belleville ring portion and a central portion having a central aperture and comprising a set of radial fingers separated by slots, each of which extends from a blind end which is close to the peripheral portion to an inner end which is open into the central aperture, the latter being common to all of the slots.In a method of making this diaphragm, a flat blank is heat treated and is then soaked and hot formed to give the diaphragm a first diaphragm angle. It is then tempered in a tempering oven. The diaphragm is then transferred from the tempering oven to a stabilizing press, in which the conicity of the diaphragm is reversed while it is still hot from the tempering oven, so that instead of the first angle it now has an inversion angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 1991
    Date of Patent: February 20, 1996
    Assignee: Valeo
    Inventors: Patrick Jehl, Jean-Pierre Vrinat
  • Patent number: 5454888
    Abstract: High strength steel structural members and method of making are disclosed by providing a blank of high-strength steel material having a tensile strength of at least about 120,000 psi and a yield strength of at least about 90,000 psi and warm forming the blank to provide the member of desired geometric configuration while substantially maintaining or increasing the strength properties of the blank.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 1994
    Date of Patent: October 3, 1995
    Assignee: Consolidated Metal Products, Inc.
    Inventor: Hugh M. Gallagher, Jr.
  • Patent number: 5302215
    Abstract: Process and apparatus are provided for selective heating a portion of a workpiece to achieve improved ausforming and isoforming processes when the workpiece is plastically deformed by mechanical working above the M.sub.s temperature. The process and apparatus includes a preheating step where a larger portion of the workpiece is preheated to less than the austenitic critical temperature while the final heating step conducted at a temperature higher than the austenitic critical temperature heats a smaller portion of the workpiece which is subsequently subjected to plastic deformation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 1991
    Date of Patent: April 12, 1994
    Assignee: Tocco, Inc.
    Inventor: George D. Pfaffmann
  • Patent number: 5284534
    Abstract: A thermomechanical method for improving the fatigue characteristics of a metallic material (for example carbon steel and low alloy steel) takes advantage of the materials' plastic flow characteristics to improve external and internal surface conditions. The material is heated to a temperature in the range of about 0.3 to 0.45 its homologous temperature, e.g., from about 200 degrees C to about the Young's Modulus Transition Temperature of said material. While the temperature of the material is in this range, force is applied to the material to produce in at least the region of said material to be treated a tensile stress level greater than the yield point of said material at the temperature, and thereby to produce limited plastic elongation in the region. The material is then cooled under stress, the stress being maintained above the instantaneous yield point of the material during at least part of the cooling process. As a result of this process, the shape of existing stress raisers (e.g.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 1991
    Date of Patent: February 8, 1994
    Inventor: Carlos A. T. Mendes
  • Patent number: 5200005
    Abstract: The strength of interstitial free steels is increased by up to 100% and the ductile to brittle transition temperature is decreased by up to 100.degree. C. by warm finish rolling in the single phase ferrite region below A.sub.rl to effect ferrite dynamic recrystallization of the steel microstructure to a ferrite structure of grain size having a grain size of up to 5 .mu.m, and especially an ultra fine grain size of 1 to 2 .mu.m; the method may be employed in various hot working methods including strip and rod mills, planetary hot rolling and extrusion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 1991
    Date of Patent: April 6, 1993
    Assignee: McGill University
    Inventors: Abbas Najah-Zadeh, John J. Jonas, Stephen Yue