The article provides an overview of the experimental research developments of the recent years of the scientific school of the Volgograd State Technical University in the field of combined surface hardening of metals by electromechanical processing (EMP) in combination with surface plastic deformation (SPD). For a long time, the authors have been developing a scientifically based approach to the selection of an effective combination of technological effects based on electromechanical processing using surface plastic deformation on the surface layer of medium- and high-carbon steels. The advantage of the combined technologies based on EMP is the possibility to control the quality, structure, physical-mechanical and operational properties within a wide range by changing the hardening modes.
Using the example of hardened carbon steels (steel 45, U8), the effect of combination of various surface hardening technologies is considered (using electromechanical processing, surface plastic deformation, non-abrasive ultrasonic finishing and their combination) on changes in structural state and surface microhardness, cyclic durability of hardened specimens and fatigue failure mechanisms. The studies were carried out by the methods of optical and scanning electron microscopy and by microhardness and fatigue tests. It is shown that for the investigated steels in quenched state, a high-speed pulsed thermo-deformation effect during electromechanical processing is accompanied by an increase in the surface microhardness (by more than 50 %) and decrease in the fatigue limit (by 20 – 30 %). Such a change in properties is associated with formation in the surface layer of substantially non-equilibrium, inhomogeneous in chemical composition, ultradispersed phases with increased hardness. At the same time, in the near-surface metal volumes tempering processes of the hardened structure proceed with the formation of softening zones and tensile residual stresses, accompanied by a decrease in the microhardness in these zones and the fatigue limit of the specimens. Such effects reduce some of the materials performance characteristics during surface hardening. The ways to improve the properties of such products due to additional technological operations require further studies. Combined surface hardening (based on electromechanical processing, surface plastic deformation and non-abrasive ultrasonic finishing) of carbon steels allows, due to variations in the intensity of temperature and deformation effects, to purposefully change the structural-phase composition and stress-strain state of the surface and near-surface metal layers. As a result, it becomes possible to form a balanced complex of strength and fatigue characteristics of the samples, depending on the preliminary heat treatment of steel. The operations of surface plastic deformation and non-abrasive ultrasonic finishing after electromechanical hardening, due to intensive plastic deformation provide smoothing of the surface and healing of near-surface defects and allow correction of stress-strain state of the processed metal. It provides an increase in microhardness in the tempering zone by 20 – 25 % and the fatigue limit of the samples by 25 – 30 %.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.