Surface Hardening of Alloy Steels Using a High Intensity Electron Beam

Electron-Beam Surface Treatment of Metals and Alloys: Techniques and Trends

“…The melted zone consisted of α'martensitic microstructure, the heataffected exhibited α primary (globular), α secondary (lamellar) and β phases, mixed with α'. This The authors of [29,30] studied an electron-beam surface hardening of 40X steel (0.36-0.44%C; 0.80-1.10%Cr; 0.50-0.80% Mn; 0.17-0.37% Si; 0.30% Ni; 0.17% Cu; 0.04% S; balance Fe). The application of the electron-beam treatment process led to a finer microstructure and an increase in the hardness due to the high heating and cooling rates.…”

Surface Manufacturing of Materials by High Energy Fluxes

“…The purpose of such techniques is to increase the hardness and wear resistance of the materials as a result of the processes occurring during the heating and cooling. The hardening is a technological process, in which the metals and alloys are heated to a certain temperature, followed by a rapid cooling which results in formation of metastable structures as well as finer microstructure, leading to an increase in the hardness and wear resistance [29][30][31][32][33][34]. The high cooling rate required for the structural transformations occurring during the self-quenching process strongly depends on the thermophysical properties of the hardened material.…”

“…Also, electron beam surface hardening can be combined with other methods, such as physical vapor deposition [64], plasma nitriding [34,65], etc. Grumbt et al [64] have studied a duplex treatment Ti 1-x Al x N coatings with subsequent electron beam treatment of steel substrates.…”

“…The authors of [34,65] have studied an electron beam surface hardening of previously nitrogen-alloyed steel. Their results show a significant increase in the microhardness as well as double improvement of the wear resistance.…”

“…Their results show a significant increase in the microhardness as well as double improvement of the wear resistance. The authors of the discussed studies [34,65] claimed that the reasons of these improvements of the functional properties are the refined microstructure consisting of α-solid solution (nitrous martensite) and γ-solid solution (nitrous austenite) and dispersed fine nitride precipitates. Ormanova et al [22] have presented a combined method for surface modification of tool steels, consisting of electron beam hardening followed by plasma nitriding and subsequent electron beam hardening, and the results demonstrate a hardness of 760 HV after the electron beam treatment and plasma hardening.…”