This paper investigates the effect of alloy composition on the gas carburizing performance of AISI 1018, 4820, 5120, and 8620 steels. The mass-transfer coefficients and carbon diffusivities were calculated from experimental measurements using direct flux integration. Although steels with high concentration of austenite-stabilizing elements (Si, Ni) increased carbon diffusivity in austenite, they significantly reduced the kinetics of carbon transfer from the atmosphere to the steel surface and resulted in lower weight gain. Despite lowering the carbon diffusivities, steels alloyed with carbide-forming elements (Cr, Mo) significantly increased the mass-transfer coefficient in the atmosphere and enhanced the rate of carbon profile evolution. The experimentally determined carbon diffusivities were in good agreement with the carbon diffusivities obtained from the thermodynamic and kinetic databases in DICTRA. Overall, using the concentration dependent mass-transfer coefficient and carbon diffusivity in various alloy steels helped explain the experimentally observed variations in the carbon concentration profiles and the effective case depths. Recommendations are made to help achieve better case depth uniformity within a carburizing workload.
This article describes the thermodynamics and kinetics of gas carburizing reactions, and details the mass transfer mechanism during gas carburizing. It discusses the various considerations involved in carburizing process planning, and reviews successful operation of the gas carburizing process based on the control of three principal variables: temperature, atmosphere composition or carbon potential, and time. The article also describes the selection criteria for alloy, carbon sources, atmosphere types, and carbon monoxide level for endothermic carburizing atmospheres. It provides information on carburizing modeling, case depth prediction, case depth measurement, and case depth evaluation as well as on carburizing equipment, and also covers the factors affecting distortion after carburizing.
This article presents the different hardness test methods used to measure the effectiveness of surface carbon control in carburized parts of steel. Common test methods include Rockwell hardness measurements, superficial Rockwell 15N testing, and microhardness testing. The article provides information on the microscopic method used to detect smaller variations in carbon content, and reviews consecutive cuts analysis and spectrographic analysis that are used to accurately evaluate the carbon concentration profile of carburized parts. It describes procedures of and precautions to be undertaken during shim stock analysis, which is used to measure the atmosphere carbon potential. The article includes a discussion on the electromagnetic nondestructive tests that are used to evaluate the case depth of case-hardened parts.
Surface hardening by nitriding is a commonly used heat treatment to enhance tribological characteristics, fatigue, and corrosion resistance of ferrous components. Nitrided white layer is known for its high hardness but also for its brittle nature. It is not uncommon to see white layer chipping or breakaway during metallurgical sample preparation that may complicate the analysis of the ‘true’ white layer characteristics in the microstructure of the nitrided load. This paper discusses the results of the several studies performed to evaluate the effect of cutting and polishing operation, polishing pressure, use of foils, and Ni plating. Best practice procedure has been developed for metallurgical sample preparation to minimize uncertainty in parts quality evaluation.
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