Surface Hardening

Need
Application like gears, camshaft, crankshaft
require hard and wear resistant surface with
tough core to withstand impact loads.
Difficult to meet by steel of uniform
composition
Such problems can be solved by
1. Increase the carbon content at the surface
of low carbon or low carbon low alloy steel and
subsequently heat treating the component in
specific manner to produce hard and wear
resistant surface with tough core

2. Introduce nitrogen in the surface of

tough steel so as to produce hard
nitride surface with no heat treatment
3. Introduce carbon and nitrogen in the
surface of tough steel and then heat
treatment
in
specific
manner
to
produce hard and wear resistant
surface
4. Hardening the surface without
change of composition of surface

Carburizing

Carburizing
Increasing carbon content at the surface
Heating of steel to austenitic region in contact
with a carburizing medium , holding at that
temperature for sufficient period.
Since in austenitic range solubility of carbon is
more and hence carbon from medium diffuses
into austenite
High carbon content at the surface does not mean
high hardness unless the part is heat treated to
convert in martensite form.
It is also known as cementation , case carburizing
or case hardening

Types
Depending upon medium used for
carburizing
A. Solid ( pack or box)
B. Gas
C. Liquid

Solid Carburizing

Solid Carburizing
Component to be carburized are packed
with carbonaceous material in a
steel/cast iron boxes and sealed with clay
Carbonaceous medium= hard wood
charcoal, coke
Accelerator = Barium, Sodium or Calcium
carbonate
Typical composition 53-55% charcoal, 3032% coke and remaining carbonates of
Ba, Ca, Na

Solid Carburizing
Reaction during carburizing are
O2 ( from box ) C ( From Medium) CO2
BaCO3 BaO CO2
CO2 C ( From Medium) 2CO
2CO C ( Dissolve in iron ) CO2

Solid Carburizing
CO is active carburizing agent. It try to
dissolve into steel and while doing so it
form carbon dioxide and carbon.
Carbon dissolve in steel and CO2 combine
with carbon from medium and form CO
The process goes on repeating and
carburizing continues by the above
indirect process
Direct carburizing occur where the steel
is in intimate contact of carburizer

Solid Carburizing
Direct carburizing is not desired as it
results in local variation of carbon content
(non uniform hardness)
Maximum carbon at the surface and case
depth depend on temperature of
carburizing and time of holding
Higher the temperature higher the carbon
content and higher case depth
Higher temperature results in excessive
grain coarsening

Solid Carburizing
At a given temperature increase in
holding time increases the case depth
without changing the maximum carbon at
surface
Solid carburizing = for thick case where
extreme uniformity in carbon content is
not required
For thinner and more uniform cases gas
and liquid carburizing is used

Roll Carburizing

Roll Carburizing
Used to obtain very thin case
Heat the steel component above 900 C
rolling it in carburizing compound
reheating it to same temperature holding
for some time and quenching in water

Gas Carburizing

Gas Carburizing
Heat the component to austenitic region
in presence of carbonaceous gas such as
methane, ethane, propane, butane
diluted with carrier gas such as flue gas
To maintain constant and uniform rate of
carbon diffusion, gas composition must
be properly controlled along with proper
circulation.
This process produce more uniform cases
in shorter time than solid carburizing.

Liquid
Carburizing

Liquid Carburizing
Immerse the steel in carbonaceous fused
salt bath medium at a temperature in
austenitic region.
Bath is composed of sodium cynide(10%)
sodium carbonate and sodium choride.
Alkaline earth salts like barium calcium,
or strontium are usually added to bath to
encourage the cynide shift

Liquid Carburizing
Reaction occurring during carburizing are
2 NaCN O2 2 NaCNO
3 NaCNO NaCN Na2CO3 C 2 N
Or 4 NaCNO 2 NaCN Na2CO3 CO 2 N
2 NaCN 2O2 Na2CO3 CO 2 N
2CO C CO2

Liquid Carburizing
Atomic nitrogen diffuses into steel and
thus results in nitriding along with
carburizing.
In the presence of earth salts access
oxygen is reduced and if the operating
temperature is kept high formation of
cynide (NaCNO) is inhibited (Cynide shift)

BaCO3 2 NaCN Ba (CN ) 2 Na2CO3

Ba (CN ) 2 BaCN 2 ( Barium Cynamide) C

Liquid Carburizing
Under this shift only carburizing take
place or slight nitriding along with
carburizing
In this case there is rapid and uniform
heat transfer, low distortion, negligible
surface oxidation and rapid absorption of
carbon
Used for rapid production of thin
carburized cases

Selective
Carburizing

Selective Carburizing
Sometimes it is desired to carburize some
area of the steel.
Cover the area not desired to be
carburized by thin layer of copper or by
refractory paste of fire clay mixed with
asbestos

Heat treatment
after Carburizing

Heat treatment after

Carburizing
To obtain optimum toughness in core and
optimum hardness and wear resistance at
the surface
Should be such as to give above
properties with least danger of cracking
spalling and warping during hardening

Direct Quench
Directly quench in water or oil from
carburizing temperature.
After that tempered to reduce brittleness
of case and minimize the danger of
cracking during subsequent finish
grinding
Due to faster cooling martensite is
formed at surface while reasonably fine
ferrite at center.
Austenite grain size will remain same as it

Direct Quench
If the grain size of austenite after
carburizing is fine then above heat
treatment process give properties
adequate for service requirement
if it is coarser, coarser martensite will
form ( excessive brittle) and ferrite in the
core will not be so fine to give possible
toughness.
Also there will be more retained austenite
in core

Double Quench
This process give best results for any kind of
steels and involve following steps
1. Slow cooling from carburizing temperature to
room temperature. ( reduce residual stresses
thus tendency of distortion and cracking during
subsequent steps)
2. Reheat to above upper critical temperature of
core and quenching (fine ferrite core)
3. Reheating to just above the lower critical
temperature of the case and quenching.
4. Tempering to relieve stresses and brittleness of
case

Nitriding

Nitriding
Heating of steel in contact with source of
atomic nitrogen at a temperature of
about 550 C
Atomic nitrogen diffuses into steel and
combine with iron and certain alloying
elements present in the steel and form
respective nitrides which increase the
hardness and wear resistance
Molecular nitrogen does not diffuses into
steel and hence completely ineffective as

Nitriding
In liquid nitriding, nitriding occurs by
formation and decomposition of cyanate
by the same reactions as in liquid
carborizing
Since temperature of nitriding is less so
carbon cannot diffuse into steel(absence
of austenite) and hence only nitrogen
diffuses into the steel

Nitriding
In gas nitriding atomic nitrogen is
produced due to dissociation of ammonia
which diffuses into steel
Atomic nitrogen react with iron and form
continuous layer of iron nitride. This layer
does not get etched with most of the
common etching regents and appears
white under microscope (white layer)
This layer is extremely hard and brittle
and tend to crack or chip during service

Nitriding
Plain carbon steel form only white layer
and thus not suitable for nitriding
Due to presence of alloying elements
respective nitrides are formed. these
nitrides are hard and tough and therefore
such a layer of nitrides does not crack or
chip
The layer of alloy nitrides can be etched
with common regents and appear dark
under microscope ( Dark layer)

Advantage of Nitriding
No subsequent heat treatment is required
and thus minimum distortion
Sharply increases fatigue life, achieve better
corrosion resistance then carburized or
hardened components
Nitriding parts have excellent bearing
properties
Nitriding parts have higher hardness than
carburized parts and such parts maintain
their hardness upto 600 C where most of the
steel temper readily and become soft

Disadvantage of Nitriding
Suitable for alloy steels only. Increase in
cost of already costly materials
Nitriding cases are relatively thin
White layer can be removed by precision
grinding of lapping which are difficult and
expensive or that layer can be converted
into dark layer by heating
No heat treatment is possible after nitriding
so core properties should be adjusted
before the components are nitrided

CARBONITRIDING
Carbonitride: a surface-hardening process in which both
carbon and nitrogen are absorbed into the surface of the steel.
The term 'carbonitriding' is used to describe a process in which
gaseous media are used.
Treatment takes place at 820-875C in a carburizing
atmosphere to which has been added 3% to 8% ammonia.
The relative proportions of carbon and nitrogen dissolved may
be controlled by varying both the concentration of ammonia
and the temperature.
Since the steel must be in its austenitic condition to permit
rapid solution of carbon this is in turn relatively unfavourable to
the solution of nitrogen which dissolves fifty times more quickly
in ferrite than it does in austenite.
Nevertheless, solution of nitrogen in austenite is still
considerable provided that the treatment temperature is kept
below 900C since the solubility of nitrogen in austenite falls
as the temperature rises for a given concentration of ammonia.

Flame Hardening

Flame Hardening
Heating of surface of hardenable steel
above its upper critical temperature by
means of oxyacetylene flames followed
by water spray quenching to transform
austenite into martensite
It can be done in different ways such as
spot method, progressive method
spinning method and combination of
progressive and spinning method

Flame Hardening
In spot a spot or local area of component is
heated by one or more flames followed by
quenching in water
In progressive heating and quenching devices
are moved over the surface at controlled rate
In spinning flames are held against a rotating
work piece and when heating is complete part
is quenched by water spray or complete
immersion in water
In combination work is rotated and the flames
are traversed for heating followed by
quenching by water spray

INDUCTION HARDENING
Heating of the surface is achieved by surrounding the
component with an inductor coil carrying a highfrequency alternating current (in the range 2-500 kHz).
When an electric current passes through a coil a
magnetic field surrounds the coil and a steel bar
introduced into the field will carry a magnetic flux.
Since the magnetic flux in this case is created by a high
frequency alternating current, 'eddy currents' are
produced in the surface layers of the steel bar which
consequently become heated .
The surface usually reaches its upper critical temperature
in a few seconds.
As soon as the surface has reached the required
temperature the component is quenched either by
dropping it into a quenching bath or by lowering it
automatically into a water spray.

PRECIPITATION/AGE HARDENING
The strength and hardness of some metal alloys may be
enhanced by the formation of extremely small uniformly
dispersed particles of a second phase within the original
phase matrix; this must be accomplished by phase
transformations that are induced by appropriate heat
treatments.
The process is called precipitation hardening because
the small particles of the new phase are termed
precipitates.
Age hardeningis also used to designate this procedure
because the strength develops with time, or as the alloy
ages.
Examples of alloys that are hardened by precipitation
treatments include aluminumcopper, copperberyllium,
coppertin,and magnesiumaluminum; some ferrous
alloys are also precipitation hardenable.

PRECIPITATION/AGE HARDENING
The object of the precipitation strengthening is to
create in a heat-treated alloy a dense and fine
dispersion of precipitated particles in a matrix of
deformable metal.
The particles act as obstacles to dislocation
motion.
In order for an alloy system to be able to
precipitation-strengthened for certain alloy
compositions; there must be a terminal solid
solution which has a decreasing solid solubility as
the temperature decreases.
For example: Au-Cu in which maximum solid
solubility of Cu in Al is 5.65% at 548 C that
decreases with decreasing temperature.

PRECIPITATION/AGE HARDENING
The precipitation strengthening process involves the following
three basic steps:
- Solutionizing (solution heat treatment), where the alloy is
heated to a temperature between solvus and solidus
temperatures and kept there till a uniform solid-solution
structure is produced.
- Quenching: where the sample is rapidly cooled to a lower
temperature (room temperature) and the cooling medium is
usually water. Alloy structure in this stage consists of
supersaturated solid solution.
- Aging: is the last but critical step. During this heat treatment
step finely dispersed precipitate particle will form. Aging
the alloy at room temperature is called natural aging,
whereas at elevated temperatures is called artificial aging.
Most alloys require artificial aging, and aging temperature is
usually between 15-25% of temperature difference between
room temperature and solution heat treatment temperature.

PRECIPITATION/AGE HARDENING
Precipitation strengthening and reactions that
occur during precipitation can be best illustrated
using the Al-4%Cu (duralumin) system.
The Al-rich end of the Al-Cu phase diagram. It
can be observed that the alloy with 4%Cu exists
as a single phase -solid solution at around 550
C, and at room temperature as a mixture of
(with less than 0.5%Cu) and an inter-metallic
compound, CuAl2 () with 52%Cu. On slow
cooling rejects excess Cu as precipitate
particles of .
These particles relatively coarse in size and can
cause only moderate strengthening effect.

PRECIPITATION/AGE HARDENING

PRECIPITATION/AGE HARDENING

PRECIPITATION/AGE HARDENING
By rapidly cooling the alloy, a
supersaturated solution can be obtained
at room temperature.
As a function of time at room
temperature, and at higher temperatures
up to 200 C, the diffusion of Cu atoms
may take place and the precipitate
particles can form.