Method for producing a precoated steel blank including the successive steps of: —providing a precoated steel strip including a steel substrate having, on at least one of its main faces, a precoating, the precoating including an intermetallic alloy layer and a metallic layer extending atop said intermetallic alloy layer, the metallic layer being a layer of aluminum, a layer of aluminum alloy or a layer of aluminum-based alloy, —laser cutting the precoated steel strip in order to obtain at least one precoated steel blank, the precoated steel blank including a laser cut edge surface resulting from the laser cutting operation, the laser cut edge surface including a substrate portion and a precoating portion, wherein the laser cutting is carried out in such a way that the substrate portion of the laser cut edge directly resulting from the cutting operation has an oxygen content greater than or equal to 15% in weight.

Method for producing a precoated steel blank including the successive steps of: —providing a precoated steel strip including a steel substrate having, on at least one of its main faces, a precoating, the precoating including an intermetallic alloy layer and a metallic layer extending atop said intermetallic alloy layer, the metallic layer being a layer of aluminum, a layer of aluminum alloy or a layer of aluminum-based alloy, —laser cutting the precoated steel strip in order to obtain at least one precoated steel blank, the precoated steel blank including a laser cut edge surface resulting from the laser cutting operation, the laser cut edge surface including a substrate portion and a precoating portion, wherein the laser cutting is carried out in such a way that the substrate portion of the laser cut edge directly resulting from the cutting operation has an oxygen content greater than or equal to 15% in weight.

The present invention relates to a zinc plated steel sheet having excellent surface quality and spot weldability, and a manufacturing method therefore. A zinc plated steel sheet according to one aspect of the present invention comprises a base steel sheet and a zinc-based plating layer formed on the surface of the base steel sheet, wherein the GDOES profile of oxygen, which is measured in the depth direction from the surface of the base steel sheet, has a form in which a local minimum point and a local maximum point alternately appear in the depth direction from the surface, and the difference (a local maximum value—a local minimum value) between the oxygen concentration (a local minimum value) at the local minimum point and the oxygen concentration (a local maximum value) at the local maximum point can be 0.1 wt % or more.

The present invention relates to a zinc plated steel sheet having excellent surface quality and spot weldability, and a manufacturing method therefore. A zinc plated steel sheet according to one aspect of the present invention comprises a base steel sheet and a zinc-based plating layer formed on the surface of the base steel sheet, wherein the GDOES profile of oxygen, which is measured in the depth direction from the surface of the base steel sheet, has a form in which a local minimum point and a local maximum point alternately appear in the depth direction from the surface, and the difference (a local maximum value—a local minimum value) between the oxygen concentration (a local minimum value) at the local minimum point and the oxygen concentration (a local maximum value) at the local maximum point can be 0.1 wt % or more.

A cold-rolled sheet according to an example of the present invention comprises at most 0.004 wt % (exclusive of 0 wt %) of C, at most 0.02 wt % (exclusive of 0 wt %) of Si, 0.1 to 0.3 wt % of Mn, at most 0.05 wt % (exclusive of 0 wt %) of Al, at most 0.02 wt % (exclusive of 0 wt %) of P, at most 0.001 wt % (exclusive of 0 wt %) of S, at most 0.004 wt % (exclusive of 0 wt %) of N, 0.015 to 0.035 wt % of Ti, and 0.001 to 0.003 wt % of B, with the balance being Fe and other inevitable impurities, and has a microstructure in which the crystal grain aspect ratio defined by the following equation 1 is 1.4 to 4.0.

Crystal grain aspect ratio=average crystal grain diameter in the rolling direction/average crystal grain diameter in the thickness direction   [Equation 1]

The invention relates to a steel material which allows for components to be formed with low residual stress via additive manufacturing without pre- or post-heating. The steel material consists of a steel with the following composition, in wt. %: C: 0.28-0.65%, Co: <10.0, Cr: 3.5-12.5%, optionally Mo: 0.5-12.5%, wherein the sum of the content of Cr and Mo is 4-16%, the Ni equivalent Ni_eq calculated according to the formula Ni_eq [%]=30% C+% Ni+0.5% Mn from the C-content % C, the Ni-content % Ni, the Mn-content % Mn fulfills the condition (1) 10%≤Ni eq≤20%, and alongside C, optionally respectively up to 9% Mn and up to 4.5% Ni are provided to fulfill condition (1), wherein the Cr equivalent Cr_eq calculated according to the formula Cr_eq [mass]=% Cr+% Mo+1.5% S+0.5% Nb+2% XX from the CR-content Cr %, the Mo-content Mo %, the Si-content Si %, the Nb-content % Nb and the sum % XX of the contents of at least one element of the group “Sc, Y, Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Ta” fulfills the condition (2) 4% Cr_eq 16%, and optionally respectively up to 2% Si, up to 2% Nb or at least one element from the group “Sc, Y, Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Ta” are provided to fulfill condition (2), wherein the total proportion of elements of this group is at most equal to the mass fraction of 2%, which Ti must not exceed if Ti is the only element selected from the group consisting of “Sc, Y, Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Ta”, and wherein the rest of the steel consists of Fe and <0.5% impurities, including 0.025% P and 50.025% S. The steel material is suited, in particular as a powder, for LPBF or LMD methods and as wire for the WAAM method.

The invention relates to a steel material which allows for components to be formed with low residual stress via additive manufacturing without pre- or post-heating. The steel material consists of a steel with the following composition, in wt. %: C: 0.28-0.65%, Co: <10.0, Cr: 3.5-12.5%, optionally Mo: 0.5-12.5%, wherein the sum of the content of Cr and Mo is 4-16%, the Ni equivalent Ni_eq calculated according to the formula Ni_eq [%]=30% C+% Ni+0.5% Mn from the C-content % C, the Ni-content % Ni, the Mn-content % Mn fulfills the condition (1) 10%≤Ni eq≤20%, and alongside C, optionally respectively up to 9% Mn and up to 4.5% Ni are provided to fulfill condition (1), wherein the Cr equivalent Cr_eq calculated according to the formula Cr_eq [mass]=% Cr+% Mo+1.5% S+0.5% Nb+2% XX from the CR-content Cr %, the Mo-content Mo %, the Si-content Si %, the Nb-content % Nb and the sum % XX of the contents of at least one element of the group “Sc, Y, Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Ta” fulfills the condition (2) 4% Cr_eq 16%, and optionally respectively up to 2% Si, up to 2% Nb or at least one element from the group “Sc, Y, Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Ta” are provided to fulfill condition (2), wherein the total proportion of elements of this group is at most equal to the mass fraction of 2%, which Ti must not exceed if Ti is the only element selected from the group consisting of “Sc, Y, Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Ta”, and wherein the rest of the steel consists of Fe and <0.5% impurities, including 0.025% P and 50.025% S. The steel material is suited, in particular as a powder, for LPBF or LMD methods and as wire for the WAAM method.

A carburized steel component, comprising a steel base including, by weight percent, from 0.08% to 0.35% carbon, 0.5% to 1.3% manganese, 0% to 0.35% silicon, 0.2% to 2.0% chromium, 0% to 4% nickel, 0% to 0.50% molybdenum, 0% to 0.06% niobium, and a remaining weight percent of iron, and a carburized layer of above 0.35% by weight carbon from a surface of the carburized layer to a carburized layer depth, wherein the carburized layer depth is from 0.5 mm to 3.0 mm, wherein the carburized layer comprises a microstructure including martensite, retained austenite, carbide, and less than 2% by volume non-martensitic transformation products (NMTP), and wherein the carburized layer includes a prior austenite average grain size of 3.0-8.0 microns from the surface to a depth of at least 0.2 mm.

A carburized steel component, comprising a steel base including, by weight percent, from 0.08% to 0.35% carbon, 0.5% to 1.3% manganese, 0% to 0.35% silicon, 0.2% to 2.0% chromium, 0% to 4% nickel, 0% to 0.50% molybdenum, 0% to 0.06% niobium, and a remaining weight percent of iron, and a carburized layer of above 0.35% by weight carbon from a surface of the carburized layer to a carburized layer depth, wherein the carburized layer depth is from 0.5 mm to 3.0 mm, wherein the carburized layer comprises a microstructure including martensite, retained austenite, carbide, and less than 2% by volume non-martensitic transformation products (NMTP), and wherein the carburized layer includes a prior austenite average grain size of 3.0-8.0 microns from the surface to a depth of at least 0.2 mm.

A method for producing an austenitic heat resistant steel in which a difference between a content of Nb and an amount of Nb analyzed as extraction residues satisfies [0.170≤Nb−Nb.sub.ER≤0.480], the method including: a forming step of machining and forming a steel having a predetermined chemical composition into a product shape; a solution heat treatment step of performing, after the forming step, heat treatment under conditions including a heat treatment temperature satisfying [−250Nb+1200≤T≤−100Nb+1290] and a soaking time satisfying [405−0.3T≤t≤2475−1.5T]; and a cooling step of performing cooling after the solution heat treatment step.