SURFACE HEAT

TREATMENT
PROCESSES

Prepared By
Mr.P.Senthamaraikannan, M.E., (Ph.D).
Assistant professor,
Department of Mechanical engineering,
Kamaraj college of engineering and technology,
Virudhunagar.
Case hardening

 Low carbon steels cannot be hardened by heating due to

the small amounts of carbon present.
 Case hardening seeks to give a hard outer skin over a softer
core on the metal.
 The addition of carbon to the outer skin is known as
carburising.
Advantages of case hardening :

Less distortion compared to through hardening steel

Fatigue properties of a part can be controlled and frequently

improved

Relatively inexpensive steel can be given wear-resisting properties

which would be normally attained through the use of more highly
alloyed and more expensive steels

Hardening of the surface of steels which cannot be normally capable

of being hardened to a high degree by altering the surface
composition

Combination of case and core properties can be attained that are not
possible with conventional hardening treatment

.
 Scaling and decarburisation are minimized during surface

 hardening, offering advantages in producing machined parts

 Can be applied to very large parts, which due to very large mass

 or because of danger of cracking would be impractical to harden,

 by conventional heating and quenching Selected area can be

 hardened on any sized place that are difficult with conventional

 heating and quenching

 High surface hardness, improve resistance to wear and galling,

 improve fatigue life, improve corrosion resistance (stainless steel is

 an exception)
 Carburising Methods

Pack carburising
Salt bath Technology or Liquid
Carburising
Gas Carburising
Vacuum or Low pressure
carburising
CO2 + C ---> 2 CO
Reaction of Cementite to Carbon Monoxide:
2 CO + 3 Fe --->Fe3C + CO2
 Pack carburising

 The component is packed

surrounded by a carbon-rich
compound and placed in the
furnace at 900 degrees.
 Over a period of time carbon
will diffuse into the surface of
the metal.
 The longer left in the furnace,
the greater the depth of hard
carbon skin. Grain refining is
necessary in order to prevent
cracking.
 Pack carburising
:  This process is the simplest and earliest carburising
process.
 The process involves placing the components to be
treated in metal containers with the caburising
mixture, based on powdered charcoal and 10%
barium carbonate, packed around the components.
 The containers are then heated to a constant
temperature (850 oC to 950 oC)for a time period to
ensure an even temperature throughout and
sufficient to enable the carbon to diffuse into the
surface of the components to sufficient depth.
 Salt bath carburising. A molten salt bath (sodium
cyanide, sodium carbonate and sodium chloride) has
the object immersed at 900 degrees for an hour giving
a thin carbon case when quenched.
 Gas carburising. The object is placed in a sealed
furnace with carbon monoxide allowing for fine control
of the process.
 Nitriding. Nitrides are formed on a metal surface in a
furnace with ammonia gas circulating at 500 degrees
over a long period of time (100 hours). It is used for
finished components.
EFFECT OF CARBURIZING GEAR TOOTH
Limitations of Pack Carburising

 It is difficult to control case depths of less than 0,6mm

 The normal case depths produced are 0.25mm to 6mm
 Poor control of surface carbon content and inability to
produce close tolerances of case depth are disadvantages
and is seldom used now a days.
Liquid Carburising

 This process is mostly used for producing shallow case depths in thin
sections.
 The components are heated in a bath containing a suitable mix of sodium
cyanide salts and sodium carbonate.
 The normal case depths for this process are about 0,25 to 0.5mm with bath
strengths of 20% to 30% NaCN. High bath strengths 40% to 50% NaCN are
required for case depths of 0,5mm and above.
Liquid Carburising

 The case resulting from this process includes carbon

and nitrogen.Which makes this process ideal for low
carbon sheet metal pressed and machined
components.
 This process normally works with bath temperatures
of 800oC to 930oC for immersion times from 2 to 7
hours depending on the depth required.
 However the disposal problems in eliminating the
solid waste & wash water have made this process
not environmental friendly and is becoming obsolete.
 Gas Carburising
 Gas carburising is very popular and widely used for case depths ranging
from 0.2 mm to 3 mm.
 Possible to achieve narrow bands of case depth requirements.
 Good Repeatability of end results possible
 Different Furnaces and atmospheres are used to suit the end requirements
of the product and cost impact.
 Carbonitriding
 Carbo nitriding is the variation of Carburising where
nitrogen is additionally introduced into the surface
along with carbon.
 This achieved by passing Ammonia along with
regular gases up to 5% of the Total volume of
gases used for carburising
 Ammonia breaks and gives necessary source of
Nitrogen
 Carbonitriding is done at temperatures of 830-890
oCand is used for case depths ranging from 0.1
mm to 0.7 mm.
GAS NITRIDING
CARBO NITRIDING

The nitrogen source - Ammonia (NH3).

At the nitriding temperature the
ammonia dissociates into Nitrogen and
Hydrogen. 2NH3 ---> 2N + 3H2
PRINCIPLE OF INDUCTION HARDENING

GEAR TEETH
Induction hardening

 Induced eddy currents

heat the surface of the
steel very quickly and is
quickly followed by jets
of water to quench the
component.
 A hard outer layer is
created with a soft core.
The slideways on a
lathe are induction
hardened.
Induction Hardening
Flame hardening

 Gas flames raise the

temperature of the
outer surface above the
upper critical temp. The
core will heat by
conduction.
 Water jets quench the
component.
Age hardening

 Hardening over a period of time

 Also known as precipitation hardening
 Occurs in duraluminium which is an aluminium alloy that
contains 4% copper. This makes this alloy very useful as it is
light yet reasonably hard and strong, it is used in the space
industry.
 The metal is heated and soaked (solution treatment) then
cooled and left.
 Pyrometry

The measurement and control of temperature in a furnace is called

pyrometry.
Optical pyrometer

 Also known as
‘disappearing filament’.
 The light intensity of a
lamp, which can be
adjusted, is compared
to the light from a
furnace.
 Temperature is
measured when the
filament seems to
disappear in the glow
from the furnace.
Thermo-electric pyrometer

 A thermocouple uses the

principle that a small
current flows if two
dissimilar metals are
joined in a loop with
different temperatures at
the junctions.
 A galvanometer at the
cold junction detects a
change in current at the
hot junction in the furnace
Vacuum hardening

 Why vacuum hardening?

 Development of vacuum concept for heat treatment

 Process details
1. evacuation of the furnace is started and vacuum level of better than 1X
10-3 mbar is achieved.
2. heating of the furnace starts when the vacuum level of 1.33X10-1 mbar
is reached..
3. Heating cycle
Room Temperature
|10ºC/min
650ºC -120 mts soaking at furnace temperature
|10ºC/min
850ºC-120mts
|5ºC/min
1000ºC-60mts
|5ºC/min
1100ºC-60mts
|
1170ºC-30mts
|5ºC/min
1250ºC-30min
 Note:- partial pressure of 4X10-1 mbar is maintained above 800ºC

4. Cooling cycle
Temperature v/s time diagram for vacuum hardening process
Benefits
1. Optimum hardening
2. Distortion and crack free hardening of the workload.
3. Absence of oxidation, decarburization or carburization on
the surface of work piece.
4. Reduced or no post-hardening and finished costs.
5. Prevent surface reaction such as oxidation or decarburizing
on work pieces thus retaining a clean surface intact.
6. Remove surface contaminants such as oxide films and
residual traces of lubricants resulting from other operations.
Disadvantages

1. Cost for hardening increases.

2. The components are to be thoroughly cleaned before

hardening in vacuum furnace
Limitations and problems

1. Volatilization and dissociation in vacuum furnace

2. Deformation or distortion
Vacuum furnaces

 TYPES OF VACUUM FURNACE

Vacuum furnaces can be grouped into one of the three
basic designs
I. Top loading furnaces.
II. Bottom loading furnaces.
III. Horizontal loading furnaces.
Vertical loading vacuum furnace
Horizontal loading vacuum furnace
Main parts of vacuum furnace

 FURNACE VESSEL

 HEATING ELEMENT

 INSULATION

 PUMPING SYSTEM
Vacuum measuring and
control
 Hot filament ionization gauge
 Pirani gauge
 Cooling system:
The following media with increasing intensity oheat
transfer are used for the cooling of components.
1. Vacuum.
2. Stagnant gas (Ar, N2).
3. Agitated recirculating gas (Ar, N2).
4. Agitated recirculating gas at pressure
(Ar, N2, He)
Industrial Usage Of Vacuum
Furnaces

 HARDENING
 BRAZING
 PLASMA NITRIDING
 PLASMA CARBURIZING
 LOW PRESSURE CARBURIZING
Plasma Nitriding

1. Introduction

Plasma nitriding, known also as ion nitriding is a form of case hardening

process.

It is an extension of conventional nitriding process, utilizing plasma discharge

physic to diffuse nitrogen into the surface of a ferrous alloy.

Plasma nitriding can be further branched out into plasma nitrocarburising.

In this process, carbon together with nitrogen was introduced into the metal
surface.

The harden case, which is the nitriding layer is commonly known as

‘diffused case’ or ‘diffusion zone’.

 Plasma Nitriding

Plasma nitriding is achieved using a D.C glow discharge technology, whereby

the nitrogen gas inside the furnace is converted into nitrogen ions and
absorbed by the metal.

Molecular nitrogen is first broken into atomic nitrogen through direct plasma
dissociation.
N2 + e- → N + N + e-

Atomic nitrogen is then further converted into nitrogen ion through plasma
ionization N + e- → N+ + 2e-

The nitrogen ion, N+, will then diffuse into the metal surface as finely
dispersed nitrides, imparting high hardness to the surface.

Thus, case hardening is achieved.

 Plasma Nitriding Process

In Plasma nitriding process, the job part and the cathode inside the furnace will be
emitting a purple glow.
This is because voltages had dropped sharply at these regions.
This provided a large amount of discharged energy, which causes the cathode and
job part to glow.
Advantages for utilizing plasma nitriding

Ability to automate the system which gives good reproducibility of results

Shorter cycle time , No environmental hazard ,improve control of case depth

Ability to select the compound layer type to suit the required usage

Good friction, wear, and fatigue properties

High hardness of the treated surface

Flexibility to nitride stainless steels, titanium alloys

Possibility to lower nitriding temperature and to limit distortion

Typical plasma nitriding process
 Carburising Methods

Pack carburising
Salt bath Technology or Liquid
Carburising
Gas Carburising
Vacuum or Low pressure
carburising
 Pack carburising
:  This process is the simplest and earliest carburising
process.
 The process involves placing the components to be
treated in metal containers with the caburising
mixture, based on powdered charcoal and 10%
barium carbonate, packed around the components.
 The containers are then heated to a constant
temperature (850 oC to 950 oC)for a time period to
ensure an even temperature throughout and
sufficient to enable the carbon to diffuse into the
surface of the components to sufficient depth.
Limitations of Pack Carburising

 It is difficult to control case depths of less than 0,6mm

 The normal case depths produced are 0.25mm to 6mm
 Poor control of surface carbon content and inability to
produce close tolerances of case depth are disadvantages
and is seldom used now a days.
Liquid Carburising
 This process is mostly used for producing shallow case depths in thin
sections.
 The components are heated in a bath containing a suitable mix of sodium
cyanide salts and sodium carbonate.
 The normal case depths for this process are about 0,25 to 0.5mm with bath
strengths of 20% to 30% NaCN. High bath strengths 40% to 50% NaCN are
required for case depths of 0,5mm and above.
Liquid Carburising

 The case resulting from this process includes carbon

and nitrogen.Which makes this process ideal for low
carbon sheet metal pressed and machined
components.
 This process normally works with bath temperatures
of 800oC to 930oC for immersion times from 2 to 7
hours depending on the depth required.
 However the disposal problems in eliminating the
solid waste & wash water have made this process
not environmental friendly and is becoming obsolete.
 Gas Carburising
 Gas carburising is very popular and widely used for case depths ranging
from 0.2 mm to 3 mm.
 Possible to achieve narrow bands of case depth requirements.
 Good Repeatability of end results possible
 Different Furnaces and atmospheres are used to suit the end requirements
of the product and cost impact.
THANK YOU