Course no: MME 444

Group No: 05

Experiment no: 05

Name of the Experiment: Designing of surface hardening of steels to be used for

Submitted by: Md Sadman Rahman

Student ID: 1511040

Date of Submission: 18-9-2019

I certify that this report is my own work, based on my personal study and that I have acknowledged
all material and sources used in its preparation, whether they be books, articles, reports, lecture
notes, and any other kind of document, electronic or personal communication. I also certify that
this report has not previously been submitted for assessment in any other unit, except where
specific permission has been granted from all unit coordinators involved, or at any other time in
this unit, and that I have not copied in part or whole or otherwise plagiarized the work of other
students.

Name: Sadman Rahman Date: 18-9-2019

Signature: ________________
Contents
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. 1

List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. 1

1 Result ....................................................................................................................................... 2

1.1 Hardness data ................................................................................................................... 2

2 Calculations ............................................................................................................................. 2

3 Discussion ................................................................................................................................ 3

i
List of Figures
Figure 1: Hardness profile of the carburized steel sample ....................................................... 3
Figure 5: Transition zone to core ................................................................................................ 4
Figure 4: Transition zone ............................................................................................................. 4
Figure 3: Surface to transition zone ............................................................................................ 4
Figure 2: Surface ........................................................................................................................... 4
Figure 6: Core .............................................................................................................................. 4

List of Tables
Table 1: Hardness of carburized quenched steel ............................................................................ 2

1
1 Result
1.1 Hardness data
Table 1: Hardness of carburized quenched steel

Distance (μm) HV

701 164.5

972 140.3

1215 136.8

1890 133.3

2615 130.2

3296 127.7

4025 127.1

4608 127

2 Calculations
Here,

Time in hours, t= 2hrs

Temperature in °C= 925°C

Temperature in Kelvin= (273+ 925) K = 1198K

So, absolute temperature in degree Rankine, T= (1.8 x 1198) °R= 2156.4°R.

We know,

Case depth, CD= (31.6√t) / (106700/T)

= (31.6√2) / (106700/2156.4) inch = 0.035 inch

So, the case depth that is the thickness of the hardened layer on the specimen is 0.035 inch.

2
3 Discussion
It is known that increasing carbon content increases hardness and strength and improves
hardenability. But carbon also increases brittleness and reduces weldability because of its tendency
to form martensite. Carburizing is a process where carbon is added to the surface of low carbon
steels at temperatures within the austenitic region of the steel and is generally within a range of
850 °C and 950 °C for mild steels. Here we performed carburizing on the steel sample on 925 °C
for 2 hours. After that analyzing the data got from hardness test we found a hardness profile with
respect to time which is given below:

Distance vs HV
180
160
140
120
Hardness, HV

100
80
60
40
20
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000
Distance, µm

Figure 1: Hardness profile of the carburized steel sample

We can observe from the graph that the hardness near the surface is significantly high. As the case
depth is 0.035 inch or approximately 889 μm, so theoretically increase of hardness will be observe
significantly till this depth. From the experiment result we found nearly the same distance of depth
where the increase of hardness is observed. From 701μm to 972μm depth the hardness significantly
decreases. After the depth of 972μm, we can observe that there is no significant variation of
hardness with increasing depth because they are more than case depth.

We also observed the microstructure of different zone from the surface which is carburized to the
core of the sample.

3
 High carbon martensite

Ferrite

Figure 4: Surface Figure 3: Surface to transition zone

Figure 5: Transition zone Figure 2: Transition zone to core

Ferrite

Pearlite

Figure 6: Core

4
Here, we can observe from the microstructures that in the core microstructure is only ferrite and
pearlite is seen. A high-carbon martensitic microstructure is present in the near surface carburized
layer. The microstructure varies through the carburized case to the core. The variation is on the
percentage of carbon which is decreasing from transition zone to core significantly.