Nowadays there is a continuous demand, particularly from the automotive industry, for cheaper, lighter and more reliable components. It is not surprising then that steel research has been focused during the last decades in new qualities and processes. This paper is dealing with the use of vanadium microalloyed steels on one of those new processes, warm forging. For its low precipitation temperature and its recognised ability to strengthen steel microstructures via austenite grain growth control, precipitation hardening and interference of the static recrystallization process, vanadium in microalloyed steels seem to be an appropriate candidate for warm forging

VANITEC and the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion for their financial support.

Peer reviewed