A rolled round steel material for a steering rack bar, having a chemical composition consisting of C: 0.38 to 0.55%, Si: not more than 1.0%, Mn: 0.20 to 2.0%, S: 0.005 to 0.10%, Cr: 0.01 to 2.0%, Al: 0.003 to 0.10%, and N: 0.003 to 0.03%, with the balance being Fe and impurities, and P being not more than 0.030% in the impurities, and a microstructure consisting of ferrite (F), lamellar pearlite (LP), and cementite (C). The average grain diameter of (F), an area fraction of (LP), and the number of particles of spheroidal cementite (SC) among C are controlled in a region from the surface to a position at ½ radius and in a central part of the material. An average aspect ratio of F is controlled in a region from a surface to a position at ½ radius.

Provided is a high strength steel sheet having an excellent high-temperature elongation characteristic. The sheet includes, by weight %, 0.4-0.9% of C, 0.01-1.5% of Cr, 0.03% or less (exclusive of 0%) of P, 0.01% or less (exclusive of 0%) of S, 0.01% or less (exclusive of 0%) of N, 0.01% or less (exclusive of 0%) of sol. Al, and a balance of Fe and inevitable impurities, and comprises at least one among 2.1% or less (exclusive of 0%) of Mn and 1.6% or less (exclusive of 0%) of Si; the sheet has a microcrystalline structure including pearlite having an area fraction of 80% or more and ferrite having an area fraction of 20% or less; and the pearlite includes cementite having a major axis length of 200 nm or shorter.

This steel sheet has a predetermined chemical composition, in which a steel structure of an inside of the steel sheet contains, by volume fraction, soft ferrite: 0% to 30%, retained austenite: 3% to 40%, fresh martensite: 0% to 30%, a sum of pearlite and cementite: 0% to 10%, and a remainder includes hard ferrite, a number proportion of the retained austenite having an aspect ratio of 2.0 or more in the total retained austenite is 50% or more, a soft layer having a thickness of 1 to 100 μm from a surface in a sheet thickness direction is present, in ferrite contained in the soft layer, a volume fraction of grains having an aspect ratio of 3.0 or more is 50% or more, a volume fraction of retained austenite in the soft layer is 80% or less of the volume fraction of the retained austenite in the inside of the steel sheet, and a peak of an emission intensity at a wavelength indicating Si appears in a range of more than 0.2 μm and 10.0 μm or less from the surface.

A hot-rolled steel sheet includes a specific chemical composition, and includes a microstructure represented by, in vol %: retained austenite: 2% to 30%; ferrite: 20% to 85%; bainite: 10% to 60%; pearlite: 5% or less; and martensite: 10% or less. A proportion of grains having an intragranular misorientation of 5° to 14° in all grains is 5% to 50% by area ratio, the grain being defined as an area which is surrounded by a boundary having a misorientation of 15° or more and has a circle-equivalent diameter of 0.3 μm or more.

Steel railroad rails including carbon, manganese, silicon and greater than 0.45 wt % to 1 wt % copper are provided having greater hardness and yield strength than standard steel rails containing less than 0.45 wt % copper. As an example, the ultimate tensile strength of the steel rails is from 1170 MPa to 1725 MPa. As an additional example, the hardness of the steel rails measured 2 mm from the running surface of the rail is from 35 to 50 on the Rockwell C scale.

A steel wire for high-strength bolts is used for a non heat-treatment bolt with an excellent cold forgeability for which quenching and tempering steps have been omitted after bolt formation, and which has a tensile strength of 1200 MPa or more and an excellent delayed fracture resistance. The steel wire includes C, Si, Mn, P, S, Cr, Al, N, and B, at least one selected from the group consisting of Ti, V, and Nb with the balance consisting of iron and inevitable impurities. The steel wire has a microstructure wherein ferrite and perlite have a total area rate of 98% or more, perlite lamellar spacing is 250 nm or less, and an area rate of the perlite is more than 40%, and 80% or less. The steel wire has a tensile strength of 1300 MPa or less.

Provided is a steel sheet having a predetermined chemical composition, wherein precipitates having a diameter of less than 0.1 μm are present in a number density of 10 to 200/μm.sup.2 in a depth region of 1 to 10 μm from a surface, an amount of dissolved C in a depth region of 10 to 60 μm from the surface is less than 0.20 mass %, and a tensile strength is 1200 MPa or more. Further, provided is a method for producing a steel sheet comprising a step of hot rolling a steel slab having a predetermined chemical composition, then coiling it at 580° C. or less, a step of pickling the hot rolled steel sheet to remove oxide scale and remove the surface layer of the hot rolled steel sheet down to at least 5 μm, and a step of cold rolling the hot rolled steel sheet, then holding it in an atmosphere of a dew point of −20 to 20° C. at a temperature region of 200 to 400° C. for 20 to 180 seconds and holding it at a temperature region of 740 to 900° C. for 40 to 300 seconds.

Provided is a steel sheet having a predetermined chemical composition and microstructure, wherein a block size in a first depth region of 1 to 10 μm from the surface is 5.0 μm or less, a block size in a second depth region of 10 to 60 μm from the surface is 6.0 to 20.0 μm, and a block size in a third depth region of 60 μm to 1/4 thickness from the surface is less than 6.0 μm. Further, provided is a method for producing a steel sheet comprising a step of hot rolling a steel slab having a predetermined chemical composition, then coiling it at 500° C. or more, a step of pickling the hot rolled steel sheet to remove oxide scale, wherein an amount of removal of the surface layer of the hot rolled steel sheet is less than 5.00 μm, a step of cold rolling by a rolling reduction of 30 to 90%, and an annealing step of holding in an atmosphere of a dew point of −20 to 20° C. at a temperature region of 740 to 900° C. for 40 to 300 seconds.

A wire rod according to an aspect of the present invention has a predetermined chemical composition, a solute N is 0.0015% or less, a structure in an area from a surface of the wire rod to a depth of ¼ of a diameter of the wire rod in a cross section thereof includes 90.0 area % or more of pearlite, and 0 to 10.0 area % in total of bainite and ferrite, a total amount of martensite and cementite in the area from the surface of the wire rod to the depth of ¼ of the diameter of the wire rod is limited to 2.0 area % or less, and the calculated maximum size of TiN-type inclusions in a surface layer area of the wire rod is 50 μm or less.

The present invention relates to a hot-rolled steel sheet for a high strength galvanized steel sheet, having excellent surface quality, and a method for producing the same, the hot-rolled steel sheet comprising, by weight %: C: 0.08 to 0.2%, Si: 0.03 to 0.15%, Mn: 1.4 to 2%, P: 0.001 to 0.05%, S: 0.001 to 0.03%, Al: 0.002 to 0.05%, and the remainder being Fe and unavoidable impurities. The weight ratio of Mn/Si is 20 to 30, the weight ratio of C/Si is 1 to 5, and the weight ratio of Si/P is 3 to 10. The hot-rolled steel sheet has a microstructure consisting of, in area fraction, 10 to 40% of bainite, 20 to 30% of pearlite and 40 to 60% of ferrite, and includes a ternary eutectic compound of FeO, Fe.sub.2SiO.sub.4 and Fe.sub.3(PO).sub.4 formed within 50 μm from the surface.