Patent ID: 8795584

Claim:
A method of making a small diameter elongated steel article having good machinability and dimensional stability comprising the steps of melting a steel alloy in a melting furnace; atomizing the steel alloy with an inert gas to form a prealloyed steel powder having the following weight percent composition, about C 0.88-0.98 Mn 0.40-0.55 Si 0.12-0.22 P 0.030 max. S 0.010-0.075 N 0.060 max. Cr 0.25 max. Ni 0.25 max. Mo 0.25 max. and the balance of the alloy is iron and usual impurities: consolidating the steel powder to substantially full density to form a powder compact; hot working the powder compact to form an elongated intermediate article; heating the intermediate article under time and temperature conditions that provide a microstructure characterized by a substantially uniform dispersion of fine carbides and fine sulfides; cold drawing the elongated intermediate article after said heating step to reduce the cross-sectional area of said elongated intermediate article; and then straightening the reduced cross-sectional area article to provide an elongated article having a small cross section for precision machining of parts.