Process for the quenching of hot rolled rods in direct sequence with rod mill

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR PRODUCING A HOT ROLLED STEEL ROD HAVING A MICROSTRUCTURE AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES WHICH ENABLE THE ROD WITHOUT FURTHER HEAT TREATMENT TO BE DRAWN INTO WIRE, COMPRISING: DEPOSITING A ROLLED STEEL ROD ON A MOVING CONVEYOR IN THE FORM OF FLAT OVERLAPPING NONCONCENTRIC RINGS, SAID ROD BEING AT AN ELEVATED TEMPERATURE ABOVE THE TEMPERATURE AT WHICH ALLOTROPIC TRANSFORMATION OF THE AUSTENITE OF SAID ROD STARTS TO OCCUR; APPLYING A COOLING GAS TO SAID NON-CONCENTRIC RINGS OVER A LENGTH AND THE WIDTH OF SAID CONVEYOR, THE AMOUNT OF SAID COOLING GAS APPLIED OVER INCREMENTS OF THE WIDTH OF SAID CONVEYOR BEING IN PROPORTION TO THE MASS FLOW RATE OF SAID STEEL ROD OVER SAID INCREMENTS, AND CONTROLLING THE AMOUNT OF SAID COOLING GAS APPLIED OVER SAID LENGTH RESPONSIVE TO THE COOLING RATE GIVEN BY THE ISOTHERMAL TRANSFORMATION DIAGRAM FOR THE PARTICULAR GRADE OF STEEL IN SAID STEEL ROD FOR SECURING SUBSTANTIALLY COMPLETE ALLOTROPIC TRANSFORMATION OF THE AUSTENITE RAPIDLY ENOUGH TO AVOID THE DEVELOPMENT OF COARSE LAMELLAR PEARLITE IN QUANTITIES SUFFICIENT TO INTERFERE MATERIALLY WITH COLD WORKING AND BEFORE THE TEMPERATURE OF SAID NON-CONCENTRIC RINGS DROP TO THAT OF THE KNEE OF THE INNER CURVE OF SAID ISOTHERMAL TRANSFORMATION DIAGRAM; AND COLLECTING SAID NON-CONCENTRIC RINGS AT THE END OF SAID CONVEYOR.