Investigation of hardness behavior after carburizing and hardening of 15CrNi6 steel

DIN 15CrNi6 is the most representative grade of the case-hardened steels. The present work analyses the influence of carburizing time on hardness of the specific steel. Specimens with similar chemical composition were heated at 900°C in liquid carbonaceous media for one, two, three and four hours, correspondingly. Then samples were oil quenched and tempered at 180°C for two hours. Microhardness was measured across the carburized zone and case profiles were acquired. The effective case depth was determined as function of carburizing holding time. Core macro hardness was carried out and the impact of holding time on the substrate hardness was discussed. The optimum case depth was defined and the carburizing parameters determined. The hardness control is critical in case hardening practice and results provide practical information to heat treaters, useful both to control the treatment parameters and to minimize the risk of failure.

A Sensitivity Mapping Technique for Tensile Force and Case Depth Characterization Based on Magnetic Minor Hysteresis Loops

In the nondestructive testing and evaluation area, magnetic major hysteresis loop measurement technology are widely applied for ferromagnetic material evaluation. However the characterization ability of major hysteresis loop measurement technology greatly varies as the evaluated target properties. To solve this limitation, magnetic minor hysteresis loops, which reflect the responses of ferromagnetic material magnetization in a systematic way, is recommend. Inspired by plenty of information carried by the minor loops, the sensitivity mapping technique was developed to achieve the highest sensitivity of minor-loop parameters to the nondestructively evaluated targets. In this study, for the first time, the sensitivity mapping technique is used to measure the tensile force in a steel strand and evaluate the effective case depth in induction-hardened steel rods. The method and procedures for the sensitivity mapping technique are given before experimental detection. The obtained experimental results indicate that the linear correlation between the induced voltage (or the magnetic induction intensity) and the tensile force (or effective case depth) exists at most of the locations in the cluster of minor loops. The obtained sensitivity maps can be used to optimize the applied magnetic field (or excitation current) and the analyzed locations at the minor loops for achieving the highest sensitivity. For the purpose of tensile force measurement, it is suggested that the strand should be firstly magnetized to the near-saturation state and then restored to the remanent state. In this way, the highest sensitivity is obtained as about 15.26 mV/kN. As for the induction-hardened steel rods, the highest sensitivity of magnetic induction intensity to the effective case depth occurs under low magnetic field conditions and the absolute value of the highest sensitivity is about 0.1110 T/mm. This indicates that if the highest sensitivity is required in the case depth evaluation, the induction-hardened steel rods are only required to be weakly magnetized. The proposed sensitivity mapping technique shows the good performance in the high-sensitivity evaluation of tensile force and case depth in ferromagnetic materials and its application scope can be extended to other nondestructive detection fields.

Verification on Possibility of Nitrogen Diffusion into Steel by High Temperature N-Quench

N-Quench, which is a new surface heat treatment to infiltrate nitrogen into steel parts followed by quenching to achieve hardening, is gathering attention in the nitriding field as it affords low distortion while maintaining a higher effective case depth (ECD) compared with conventional nitriding. N-Quench is conducted mainly between 680°C and 800°C, where the two-phase region of ferrite and austenite exists in the Fe-N phase diagram. However, a few studies have reported on nitriding at temperatures higher than 800°C due to decomposition of NH3, which is a key source of nitrogen infiltration. Our results revealed that in a conventional furnace such as resistance heating furnace, no nitrogen infiltrated the specimen at 930°C, which is the general carburizing temperature. On the other hand, in the infrared heating furnace, nitrogen infiltrated the specimen at 930°C successfully with lesser NH3 introduction than that required by the conventional furnace. Therefore, in this study, the limit of NH3 decomposition is assessed and possibility of extending the applicability of N-Quench, especially increasing the ECD while maintaining a low distortion, is examined.

Modeling and Analysis of Effective Case Depth on Meshing Strength of Internal Gear Transmissions

The effective case depth (ECD) plays an important role in the meshing strength of internal gear transmissions. Carburizing quenching heat treatment is commonly used to enhance gear strength and wear resistance. However, the different ECDs in internal and external gears caused by heat treatment significantly affect the meshing strength, causing vibration, reducing gear service life, and hastening malfunction in internal gear transmission. In this study, we conducted an investigation of different ECDs by the heat treatment of carburized gear pairs by numerical simulation with the finite element method (FEM) and experiment tests. We analyzed three different carburized layer models, with the ECD in the internal gear being greater than, less than, and equal to the ECD in the external gear. In addition, we investigated the ability to distinguish between hardness gradients in gear teeth by dividing the carburized depth into seven layers to improve modeling accuracy. Results revealed that the meshing strength of internal gear transmission could be significantly enhanced by adopting the model with the ECD in the internal gear being less than the ECD in the external gear, and moreover, the shear stress of carburized gears initially increased and then decreased along with depth direction, and the maximum value appeared in the middle of the lower surface.

AN EFFECT OF GRINDING ON MICROHARDNESS AND RESIDUAL STRESS IN 20MnCr5 FOLLOWING SINGLE-PIECE FLOW LOW-PRESSURE CARBURIZING

The aim of the experiment described in the paper was to determine the effect of selected conditions of abrasive machining on the size and distribution of microhardness and residual stresses developed in the technological surface layer of flat specimens made of 20MnCr5 steel. The specimens were subjected to single-piece flow low-pressure carburizing (LPC) and high-pressure gas quenching (HPGQ) in a 4D Quenching chamber, in order to achieve the effective case depth of ECD=0.4 mm. This was followed by grinding the specimens with Quantum and Vortex alumina grinding wheels made by Norton. Cooling and lubricating liquid were supplied to the grinding zone in both cases by the flood (WET) method and by the minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) method. The measurements for each specimen were made twice - after the thermo-chemical treatment and after the grinding. Microhardness and residual stress was measured by the X-ray method sin2Ψ. The final part of the article provides an analysis of the measurement results and presents conclusions and recommendations for further studies.

Hardness Distribution and Effective Case Depth of Low Carbon Steel after Pack Carburizing Process under Different Carburizer

This research is concerned with the effect of different carburizers on hardness distribution, effective case depth and microstructure of low carbon steel after pack carburizing process. Carburizers to be used were combination of energizer (BaCO3), goat bone charcoal and bamboo charcoal with five different compositions. The specimens were heated to temperature of 950°C, soaked at the temperature for 4 hours and quenched in the water. After the process, microstructures of specimen were observed, the hardness was measured using Vikers method and effective case depths were calculated. The results obtained showed that for all types of carburizer used, the hardness were scattered from surface to the core with lower hardness level. Carburizer composition of 20% BaCO3 + 80% goat bone charcoal produced the highest hardness ( 789.273 HV1) at 0.2 mm from the surface, however, it yielded the lowest effective case depth (0.52 mm). The highest effective case depth of 1 mm was obtained using carburizer composition of 20% BaCO3 + 60% goat bone charcoal + 20% bamboo charcoal. Meanwhile, the original structures of raw material which consist of ferrite and pearlite transformed to hard martensite constituent in the surface after pack carburizing.