Effect of Wave Thermal Deformation Hardening on the Microhardness of the Surface Layer of Steel Parts

Abstract

Preliminary experimental studies of the possibility of increasing the microhardness of the surface layer of the material by the method of wave thermodeformational hardening on the example of austenitic steel class 12X18H10T are carried out. Comparative studies on the hardening of the material with and without heating were also carried out. The possibility of a significant increase in the maximum microhardness in the range from 25 to 50% at a depth of up to 0.6 mm, depending on the hardening mode, in comparison with the deformation treatment in the “cold” state is established. The area of technological modes providing the maximum increase of microhardness in the surface layer is revealed, in particular, the temperature of the treated surface should be in the range from 200°C to 400°C. At the same time, the achieved microhardness values exceed the initial one by 1.8…2.2 times, depending on the processing modes. It is also found that when choosing rational processing modes, the combined wave thermal strain hardening can significantly increase the hardening depth to 4.2 mm of the surface layer compared to the initial state. To establish the possibility of improving the performance of combined processing requires additional research.