Patent ID: 7150800

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a continuously variable transmission belt from a metastable austenitic stainless steel strip, which comprises the steps of: forming a metastable austenitic stainless steel strip to a ring shape by welding its front and tail ends together; disposing said ring-shaped steel strip between a tension roll and a return roll; continuously sending said ring-shaped steel strip through a gap between work rolls, which are located between said tension roll and said return roll; and rolling said ring-shaped steel strip under the condition that the relationship −0.3913T+0.5650Md(N)+60.46ε≧65.87 is established among a material temperature T, wherein an equivalent strain ε is defined by the equation of ε=√{square root over (4(1n(1−R)) 2 /3)} wherein R is the reduction ratio and a value Md(N) is defined by the equation of Md(N)=580−520C−2Si−16Mn−16Cr−23Ni−300N−10Mo, wherein a variation ΔT of the material temperature T is confined within a range of ±6.4° C. during rolling, and said method is carried out without aging treatment.