The hot deformation behaviour of air-hardening martensitic forging steels (of type 1.5132) is presented. The newly developed steels are characterized through dilatometric tests as well as through microstructure analyses with LOM and SEM and hardness measurements. Additionally, the influence of alloying elements on the flow curves at high temperatures is discussed. It is demonstrated that the higher alloying content does not increase the equivalent stresses in comparison to the reference alloys and contrariwise reduces the offset for dynamic recrystallization at temperatures below 1100 ∘C. Furthermore, the effect of different alloying elements on the strain hardening behaviour during hot compression of 4wt.-% medium manganese steels is presented. It is shown that boron reduces the offset for dynamic recrystallization if present in solid solution, while the combined addition of titanium and niobium annihilates the solid drag effect on the prior austenite grain boundaries.
Keywords: flow curves; forging steels; hot deformation; medium manganese steels.