Surface & Coatings Technology 394 (2020) 125857

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Surface & Coatings Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/surfcoat

Laminar plasma jet surface hardening of the U75V rail steel: Insight into the T
hardening mechanism and control scheme
⁎
Da Guo, Deping Yu , Peng Zhang, Yazhou Duan, Bin Zhang, Yanjie Zhong, Jier Qiu
School of Mechanical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Insight into the mechanism of laminar plasma jet (LPJ) surface hardening is critical for the controllable pre-
Laminar plasma jet paration of ideal hardened layer to improve the wear and fatigue resistance of U75V rail steel. To reveal the
U75V rail steel surface hardening mechanism, a series of surface hardening experiments on the U75V rail steel surface were
Surface hardening mechanism performed under different working parameters using a self-designed laminar plasma generator. Results showed
Hardness gradient
that the geometrical dimension, microstructure and hardness distribution of the hardened layer can be adjusted
by changing the arc current, the scanning velocity and the anode nozzle diameter. Further characterization and
numerical simulation suggested that the geometrical dimension of the hardened layer is determined by the heat
affected zone over the critical austenitizing temperature (730 °C), while its microstructure and hardness dis-
tribution depend on the local cooling rate below the critical austenitizing temperature. By changing the working
parameters, the heat flux density applied on the workpiece surface and the heating time can be controlled to
obtain the desired temperature field within the heat affected zone. Not only a full hardened layer but also a
transition layer consisting of martensite, pearlite, ferrite and carbides can be achieved. This configuration of LPJ
surface hardening process for U75V rail steel indicates that the LPJ surface hardening with the ability of pro-
ducing hardness gradient is promising for reducing the risk of crack generation on the rail.

1. Introduction
As the most common rail material, U75V steel suffers severe wear
and surface peeling due to the burden of a large alternating load within
a small contact area during the service. In order to increase the service
life of the rails, improving the wear and rolling contact fatigue re-
sistance of the rail material is an available approach in the current
development of rail transit.
Surface hardening is a common heat treatment process applying to
the fabrication of key parts such as gears, shafts, grinding rolls and
molds, where the workpiece surface can produce a hardened layer
without changing the microstructure and performance of base materials
[1]. Researchers confirmed that the hardened layer consisting of mar-
tensite can significantly enhance the wear resistance of the U75V steel
due to the higher hardness [2]. But the rolling contact fatigue resistance
of the U75V rail would get worse when the whole surface is hardened
[3]. For this reason, Su et al. [4] conducted the laser dispersed
quenching treatment on the surface of U75V rail roller and achieved a
relative balance between the wear and fatigue resistance performance
when half of the roller was dispersed quenched. However, the low
conversion rate of energy and the high requirement of workpiece
surface, as well as the relatively narrow range of power and processing
size, to some extent restrict the practical application of laser quenching
on the real rail [5]. In contrast, the thermal plasma jet has been gra-
dually used for surface hardening of rail steel due to its high energy
density close to that of laser, the lower cost and environmental re-
quirement as well as the relatively high productivity [6,7]. Never-
theless, its controllability and repeatability for producing the hardened
layer were far inferior than laser quenching until the quasi-laminar or
laminar plasma jet appeared [8–12].
As a thermal treatment process, the nature of surface hardening for
U75V steel is the transition of microstructure. When the heating tem-
perature reaches the “phase-transition temperature”, the original
pearlite structure would turn into austenite almost instantaneous and
then transform to martensite after rapid cooling [13]. If the cooling rate
is not fast enough, part of the carbon in the austenite may be pre-
cipitated to form pearlite, ferrite and other microstructure [14]. The
mechanical performances of the hardened layer usually depend on the
microstructure, to obtain the desired hardened layer with the required
geometrical dimension, microstructure and hardness distribution in the
surface hardening process, it is critical to regulate the thermal field
evolution (heating and cooling) of the workpiece surface. However,

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: williamydp@scu.edu.cn (D. Yu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2020.125857
Received 6 February 2020; Received in revised form 7 April 2020; Accepted 27 April 2020
Available online 29 April 2020
0257-8972/ © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
D. Guo, et al. Surface & Coatings Technology 394 (2020) 125857

when different thermal treatment approaches were employed for sur-

face hardening, different control mechanisms should be taken into ac-
count for producing the desired hardened layer to meet the wear and
fatigue resistance of U75V rail steel. For traditional industrial surface
hardening methods such as flame and induction, they are characterized
by the larger heating zone, the slower heating and cooling rate. To
reduce the self-tempering time and avoid the precipitation of the car-
bides, finally form completely martensitic structure, the evaporable
cooling media such as water, oils and aqueous solutions has to be used
[14,15]. The resulting high energy consumption and heavy distortion of
the workpiece as well as demanding working conditions greatly prevent
their applications in practical rail. Comparatively, the laser surface
hardening has higher energy density and smaller heat affected zone.
The energy input can be adjusted by controlling the working para-
meters, including the output power, the converging lenses and the
heating time. During the laser surface hardening process, only very
small zone is rapidly heated and then cools naturally. Here, the rapid
cooling and martensite transformation achieved by heat dissipation to
the cold base material beneath the workpiece surface without any ad-
ditional cooling media [5,16–18]. However, when the laser is used in
surface hardening of the U75V rail steel, there is an abrupt drop of
hardness from 800–900 HV to 300–400 HV at the boundary of the
hardened layer and the base material. Such abrupt drop of hardness is
probably the reason for the generation of cracks at the boundary
Fig. 1. (a) Schematic diagram of the self-developed laminar plasma generator;
[3,4,19]. To reduce the risk of crack generation at the boundary, it is (b) photo of the LPJ.
desirable to generate the hardness gradient at the boundary [20]. This
implies that the temperature, specific enthalpy of the heat source
should be configurable within a wider range in order to produce the 2. Experiments and methods
desired temperature field. Similar to laser surface hardening, LPJ sur-
face hardening is self-hardening without using any additional cooling 2.1. Laminar plasma generator
media. In addition, as a relatively new high energy beam, LPJ's energy
density and the heat affected zone can be easily adjusted by changing Fig. 1 shows the internal structure of the self-developed laminar
plasma generator and a photo of the generated LPJ. It features the
the working parameters, e.g. the anode nozzle diameter, the arc cur-
‘cascade’ design concept that can extend and stabilize the arc length
rent, the gas type, the gas flow rate etc., to obtain the desired heating
over a wide range of gas mass flow rates, which allows the generation of
temperature and cooling rate. Therefore, it has presented many ad-
long and stable LPJ [25]. By properly setting the working parameters,
vantages in controlling the geometrical dimension, microstructure and
e.g. the anode nozzle diameter, the arc current, the gas type, the gas
hardness distribution of the hardened layer [8,21–24]. In addition,
flow rate etc., the generated LPJ exhibits distinguished thermal ad-
there were signs that the plasma surface hardening can produce a
vantages of high specific enthalpy (10–90 kJ/g), long jet length (max-
hardened layer with hardness gradient for rail steel [6]. However, in
imum length: 480 mm), low temperature gradient and high heat flux
terms of how to controllably obtain the desired transition layer at the
density (maximum heat flux density: 0.69 × 109 w/m2) [9,10]. As the
boundary region of the hardened layer of U75V steel by the LPJ has
self-designed laminar plasma generator is easy to regulate and has ex-
been a problem [7,11,12]. Since the specificity of the LPJ surface
cellent thermal characteristics, it has great potential for surface hard-
hardening comparing with other surface hardening technology, to ob-
ening.
tain an ideal hardened layer with desired geometrical dimension, mi-
crostructure and hardness gradient, the mechanism of the LPJ surface
hardening still need to be clarified. 2.2. LPJ surface hardening experiments
In this paper, to reveal the mechanism of the LPJ surface hardening
of the U75V rail steel, surface hardening experiments have been carried Workpiece with size of 50 × 50 × 20 mm was obtained by wire
out by a self-designed laminar plasma generator [9] on U75V steel. By electrical discharge machining from the head of the U75V rail (0.796 C,
changing the arc current, the scanning velocity and the anode nozzle 0.566 Si, 0.700 Mn, ≦0.030 P, ≦0.030 S, 0.120 V, all in wt% [10],
diameter of the laminar plasma generator, the ways for adjusting the which is a special eutectoid steel used in China as the heavy-haul
geometrical dimensions of the hardened layer were acquired, and the railway. Before the experiments, the workpiece surface was finish
corresponding microstructures and hardness distributions were char- turned on a lathe and then appropriately cleaned in ethanol to remove
acterized to confirm the existence of the transition layer. In addition, the oil contaminant on the surface. As shown in Fig. 2, the micro-
numerical simulations of the LPJ surface hardening have been carried structure of the untreated U75V steel consists of pearlite and the
out to obtain the variation of the temperature field within the heat hardness is measured to be about 320 HV [7].
affected zone. Then, the effect of the heating temperature and cooling A series of LPJ surface hardening experiments on the U75V steel
rate of the workpiece on the evolution of the microstructure and the were performed in the atmospheric environment, without using any
hardness distribution of the hardened layer were further clarified. Fi- additional cooling media. As shown in Fig. 2, a stable LPJ, generated
nally, a control scheme for LPJ surface hardening of U75V steel is with an anode nozzle diameter (D) of 7 or 3 mm, scanned over the
summarized, which can help achieving the controllable preparation of workpiece surface maintaining a fixed distance with different scanning
the required hardened layer and thus high wear and fatigue resistance velocities. Taking into account the heat transfer efficiency, all experi-
requirements of the rail steel. mental parameters were carefully chosen to avoid the melting of the
workpiece surface. In these experiments, the flow rate of nitrogen and
argon were set to 6.5 L/min and 3.0 L/min. The distance between the
exit of the anode nozzle and the workpiece surface was set to 5 mm. By

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D. Guo, et al.
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the LPJ surface hardening experiments.
changing the arc current (I) and the scanning velocity (v), their effects
on the microstructure and the hardness of the hardened layer were
investigated respectively. Besides, the anode nozzles with the diameter
of 7 and 3 mm were employed to study the effect of the heat flux
density on the hardened layer.
To characterize the microstructure and hardness distribution of the
hardened layer, the treated workpieces were firstly cut along the plane
vertical to the scanning velocity. Then, the cut samples were ground
and then polished using a diamond paste with a particle size of 1.5 um
until the surface is completely smooth, and finally the samples were
etched by natal (4%) for about 10–15 s. The samples were then ob-
served by an optical microscope (GX51, OLYMPUS, Japan) to obtain the
cross-sectional optical image of the hardened layer. Analysis of the
microstructure within the hardened layer was carried out by a scanning
electron microscope (SEM) (inspect F50, FEI, USA). Finally, the hard-
ness of the hardened layer was measured by a hardness tester (DHV-
1000Z, SCTMC, China) equipped with a Vickers diamond indenter with
a load of 200 g and holding duration time of 15 s.
2.3. Numerical simulation of the LPJ surface hardening
To reveal the relationship between the formation of the hardened
layer and the variation of the temperature field, numerical simulations
of the LPJ surface hardening for the U75V steel workpiece with a size of
50 × 50 × 20 mm were carried out by ANSYS finite element software.
First, the heat flux density distribution of the LPJ impinging up on the
workpiece surface was determined by the indirect method proposed by
Xiang et al. [10,23]. It obeys the Gaussian distribution as described by
Eq. (1)
δP 3r 2
q (r ) = ⋅exp ⎛⎜− 2 ⎞⎟
πrH2
⎝ rH ⎠ (1)
where δ is a constant parameter relates to the heat transfer efficiency,
rH is the radius of the heated circle in which 95% of the total heat
energy is concentrated, r represents the distance to the center of the
heated circle, the power P is determined by the arc current. Then the
determined heat flux density distribution and natural convection heat
transfer were set as the boundary conditions to obtain the variation of
the temperature field within the heat affected zone. Details on the
numerical simulation can be referred to reference [10, 23].
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Geometrical dimension of the hardened layer
In the LPJ surface hardening of U75V steel, the geometrical
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Surface & Coatings Technology 394 (2020) 125857
dimension of the hardened layer is important for optimizing its wear
and fatigue resistance performance [11]. As shown in Fig. 2, when the
LPJ scans over the workpiece surface, the surface layer would under-
goes a rapidly heating and cooling via energy exchange, eventually
forming a crescent-shaped hardened layer at the workpiece surface as
the heat flux density distribution approximately obeys the Gaussian
distribution [10,23]. Here, the effects of the arc current, the scanning
velocity and the anode nozzle diameter on the geometrical dimensions
of the hardened layer of U75V steel were discussed.
3.1.1. Effect of the arc current
To clarify the effect of the arc current, LPJ surface hardening tests
were performed with an anode nozzle diameter of 7 mm at different arc
currents. The scanning velocity was set to 250 mm/min. Fig. 3(a) dis-
plays the cross-sectional optical image of a typical hardened layer and
the boundary profile of the hardened layer marked in green dashed line.
To contrast, the boundary profiles of the hardened layer obtained by
LPJ surface hardening with different arc currents are plotted in the
same coordinate in Fig. 3(b). As the arc current increases from 50 A to
110 A, the maximum depth of the hardened layer increases from
0.3 mm to 1.1 mm, and the width increases from 4.0 mm to 7.8 mm. It
can be seen that changing the arc current can effectively adjust the
geometrical dimension of the hardened layer of U75V steel.
To reveal the above effect of the arc current, the heat flux density
distribution of the LPJ impinging upon the workpiece surface and the
temperature field within the heat affected zone were obtained by nu-
merical simulation. As shown in Fig. 4, with the increase of the arc
current, the maximum heat flux density at the central position almost
maintains at 1 × 107 W/m2. However, the full width at half maximum
(FWHM), which is the distance between the points whose function
value reaches half of its maximum value of the heat flux density, gra-
dually increases. This means that more heat energy is applied on the
workpiece surface per unit time, which leads to the difference in the
temperature field within the heat affected zone. Fig. 5 shows the si-
mulated temperature distribution within the heat affected zones of the
workpiece during the LPJ surface hardening with different arc current
and boundary profiles (dashed line) of the hardened layer obtained
from the corresponding experiments as shown in Fig. 3. It can be seen
that the maximum temperature and the size of the heat affected zone
significantly increases with increase of the arc current. In addition, it
can be seen that the geometrical dimension of the hardened layer is
almost consistent with the size of the region with temperature over
730 °C, which is the critical austenitizing temperature above which the
microstructure of the material transforms to austenite [13]. These re-
sults indicate that the effect of the arc current on the geometrical di-
mension of the hardened layer is attributed to the variation of the
D. Guo, et al. Surface & Coatings Technology 394 (2020) 125857

Fig. 3. (a) The optical image of the hardened layer obtained with the arc current of 110 A; (b) the boundary profiles of the hardened layer after LPJ surface hardening
with different arc currents. v = 250 mm/min, D = 7 mm.

the LPJ surface hardening.

3.1.2. Effect of the scanning velocity

Fig. 4. The heat flux density distributions of the LPJ impinging upon the
workpiece surface using different arc current. v = 250 mm/min, D = 7 mm.
temperature field within the heat affected zone, which depends on the
heat flux distribution generated by the LPJ with different arc current.
Therefore, obtaining a desired temperature distribution in the work-
piece is the key to the controllable preparation of the hardened layer in
To study the effect of the scanning velocity on the geometrical di-
mension of the hardened layer of U75V steel, LPJ surface hardening
experiments were performed with an anode nozzle diameter of 7 mm
and the arc current of 90 A at different scanning velocities. As shown in
Fig. 6(b), the width of the hardened layer increases from 4.9 mm to
9.4 mm while the corresponding maximum depth increases from
0.4 mm to 1.7 mm when the scanning velocity rises from 150 to
450 mm/min. This result shows that the geometrical dimension of the
hardened layer can also be adjusted by changing the scanning velocity.
In this case, the scanning velocity only affects the heating time of
the workpiece rather than the heat flux density. As shown in Fig. 7,
when the scanning velocity is 150 mm/min, the maximum temperature
within the heat affected zone is close to 1200 °C, but when the scanning
velocity is 450 mm/min, the maximum temperature is less than 800 °C.
The faster the scanning velocity, the shorter the heating time is. The
corresponding maximum temperature and the size of the heat affected
zone would become smaller. And the size of the region with tempera-
ture over 730 °C significantly decreases with the increase of the scan-
ning velocity. From Fig. 7, it can be seen that the boundaries of the

Fig. 5. Simulated temperature distribution within the heat affected zones of workpiece during the LPJ surface hardening with different arc current and the boundary
profiles (dashed line) of the hardened layer obtained from the corresponding experiments. v = 250 mm/min, D = 7 mm.

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D. Guo, et al. Surface & Coatings Technology 394 (2020) 125857

Fig. 6. (a) The optical image of the hardened layer obtained with the scanning velocity of 250 mm/min; (b) the boundary profiles of the hardened layer after LPJ
surface hardening with different scanning velocity. I = 90 A, D = 7 mm.

region with temperature over 730 °C match well with the boundary
profiles of the hardened layer extracted from Fig. 6. This indicates that
by adjusting the scanning velocity to change the heating time, it can
also effectively control the geometrical dimension of the hardened
layer.
3.1.3. Effect of the anode nozzle diameter
To clarify the effect of different heat flux density distribution on the
geometrical dimension of the hardened layer, the anode nozzles dia-
meter of 3 mm and 7 mm were used for the LPJ surface hardening
experiments for comparative study. The arc current and the scanning
velocity were set to 90 A and 350 mm/min respectively. As shown in
Fig. 8(a) and (e), the diameter of the LPJ with the anode nozzle dia-
meter of 3 mm is only 3.1 mm which is far less than that (7.2 mm) of
the anode nozzle diameter of 7 mm. By reducing the anode nozzle
diameter, the size of the LPJ is mechanically compressed, resulting in
significantly different heat flux distributions. Comparing Fig. 8(f) and
(b), it can be seen that the FWHM of the heat flux density applied on the
workpiece surface decreases from 10.0 mm to 4.8 mm while its max-
imum heat flux increases from 10.1 × 106 W/m2 to 20.0 × 106 W/m2
when the anode nozzle diameter was changed from 7 mm to 3 mm.
With the determined heat flux density distribution and the natural
convection heat transfer model [23], the maximum temperature dis-
tribution within the heat affected zone of the workpiece during the LPJ
surface hardening can be simulated. As shown in Fig. 8(g) and (c), the
depth of the region with temperature over 730 °C increased by about
1.4 times while its width decreased by about 1.3 times as the diameter
of anode nozzle decreases. Therefore, a deeper and narrower hardened
layer is likely to be obtained when the anode nozzle diameter of 3 mm
was employed. As shown in Fig. 8(d) and (h), for the anode nozzle
diameter of 3 mm, the width and maximum depth of the hardened layer
is 4.5 mm and 0.7 mm respectively. But for the anode nozzle diameter
of 7 mm, the width of the hardened layer is 5.9 mm while the corre-
sponding maximum depth only reaches 0.5 mm under the same
working parameters. This result indicates that not only the size but also
the shape of the hardened layer can be adjusted by changing the anode
nozzle diameter of the laminar plasma generator.
3.2. Microstructure and hardness distribution of the hardened layer
The microstructure of material determines its mechanical perfor-
mance such as hardness and elasticity modulus, while the wear and
fatigue resistance of U75V rail steel depend on the hardness distribution
of the hardened layer. To reveal the mechanism of the LPJ surface

Fig. 7. Simulated temperature distribution within the heat affected zones of workpiece during the LPJ surface hardening with different scanning velocity and the
boundary profiles (dashed line) of the hardened layer obtained from the corresponding experiments. I = 90 A, D = 7 mm.

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D. Guo, et al.
Fig. 8. The anode nozzles of 3 mm and 7 mm were used for LPJ surface hardening of U75V steel: (a) and (e) photos of the LPJs; (b) and (f) the heat flux density
applied on workpiece surface; (c) and (g) the temperature field within the heat affected zone; (d) and (h) the cross sectional images of the hardened layer.
hardening of U75V steel and achieve a desired hardened layer, the
evolution of microstructure and the hardness distribution were further
analyzed.
3.2.1. Evolution of the microstructure
In the LPJ surface hardening, an inhomogeneous heating of the heat
affected zone will cause varying degrees of changes in microstructure
because the metallographic structure of U75V steel heavily depends on
the quenching temperature [26]. When different parameters of LPJ
surface hardening were employed, the microstructure of the different
region in the crescent-shaped hardened layer significantly differed.
Fig. 9 shows the microstructure along the depth direction of the har-
dened layer obtained at the working parameters of D = 7 mm, I = 90
A, v = 150 mm/min. As shown in Fig. 9(a) and (b) respectively, the
microstructure at the depth of 0.05 or 0.1 mm displays as the plate
martensite, which is usually described as the needle-like or lenticular
with irregular and jagged boundaries. With the increase of depth, the
martensite grain becomes finer and more uniform until the depth
reaches 0.6 mm, which may result in a slight increase of hardness [26].
When the depth increases to 1.4 mm, the microstructure gradually
transforms into a mixture of the bright martensite and the dark ferrite.
Plenty of carbides occur around the ferrite, which means that the
carbon content of the martensite may be reduced [27]. As the depth
increases to 1.6 mm, a substantial pearlite, namely the lamellar mixture
of cementite and ferrite, begins to occur. When the depth is down to
1.8 mm, the microstructure is pearlite with a mixture of fractured ce-
mentite and ferrite, which the transition from the hardened layer to the
base material.
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Surface & Coatings Technology 394 (2020) 125857
To reveal the formation mechanism of the above different micro-
structure at different depths of the workpiece, their corresponding
temperature evolution were obtained by the numerical simulation of
the LPJ surface hardening with the working parameters of D = 7 mm,
I = 90 A and v = 150 mm/min. As shown in Fig. 10(a), the maximum
temperature of the workpiece surface (d = 0 mm) reaches 1170 °C at
the time of 11 s. With the increase of depth, the maximum temperature
gradually decreases. At the depth of 0.6 mm, the maximum temperature
reaches 1000 °C. Because the heating temperature exceeds the critical
austenitizing temperature (730 °C) of the U75V rail steel, the micro-
structure of the hardened layer at the depth of less than 0.6 mm all
transforms to martensite. And the longer the heating time above the
austenitizing temperature, the coarser the martensite grain is [26]. But
for the depth of 1.4 to 1.6 mm, only part of the microstructure turns
into martensite while the rest exist in the form of ferrite, carbides and
pearlite. Here, the limited heating time above the austenitizing tem-
perature seems a reasonable explanation for different microstructure.
However, it is in contradiction with another result that the hardened
area at the depth of 0.2 mm took place a complete martensitic trans-
formation when the scanning velocity of 350 mm/min was employed.
They have nearly the same maximum temperature and the heating time
above austenitizing temperature, but their microstructure is completely
different.
For this, the influence of the cooling rate below the critical auste-
nitizing temperature (730 °C), which is considered as the determinants
of the microstructures after cooling [28], is further analyzed. As shown
in Fig. 10(b), all cooling curves were drawn into the classic continuous
cooling transformation (CCT) model of U75V steel obtained by JMatPro
D. Guo, et al. Surface & Coatings Technology 394 (2020) 125857

Fig. 9. SEM images captured the microstructure along the central depth direction of the hardened layer. D = 7 mm, I = 90 A, v = 150 mm/min.

software which clearly defined the conditions of producing complete slow and the cooling curve passes through the region II, partial auste-
martensite, pure pearlite or mixtures. If the cooling rate is too fast, the nite will precipitate carbon, which results in the formation of mixture
cooling curve only passes through the region I, the austenite will consisting of martensite, pearlite, ferrite and carbides [28]. The results
completely transform into martensite. When the cooling rate becomes show that when the scanning velocity of 150 mm/min was employed,

7
D. Guo, et al.
Fig. 10. (a) Temperature evolution within the heat affected zone at different
depths to the workpiece surface during the LPJ surface hardening; (b) the
cooling curve below the critical austenitizing temperature (730 °C) and the CCT
curve of U75V steel. D = 7 mm, I = 90 A, v = 150 or 350 mm/min.
the cooling curve of the hardened area at the depth of 1.6 mm passes
through the region II, which means the microstructure at the depth of
1.6 mm is the mixture consisting of martensite, pearlite, ferrite and
carbides. While the cooling curve of the depth of 1.4 mm passes through
the critical point, the microstructure at the depth of 1.4 mm only
consists of the martensite and small amount of ferrite and carbides. But
for other cooling curves that only passes the region I, including both the
hardened area of 0–0.6 mm depth with scanning velocity of 150 mm/
min and the hardened area of 0.2 mm depth with scanning velocity of
350 mm/min, the microstructure presents as the complete martensite
due to the high cooling rate. The results suggest that the effect of the
cooling rate on the microstructure of hardened area is very significant
and the microstructure of the U75V surface hardened layer can be ad-
justed by controlling the heating temperature and the cooling rates
below the critical austenitizing temperature, it is likely to get the har-
dened layer with hardness gradient.
3.2.2. Variation of the hardness distribution
The change of microstructure will inevitably cause the variation of
the hardness distribution. To obtain the hardness distribution of the
hardened layer, hardness measurements were conducted at intervals of
0.05 mm along the depth direction of the hardened layer. The Vickers
indenter marks are shown in Fig. 11(a). The size of the Vickers indenter
marks increases along the depth direction due to the decrease of the
hardness. The corresponding hardness distribution is illustrated in
Fig. 11(b). It can be seen that: (1) the Vickers hardness of the top area
basically maintains at around 800 HV as the corresponding
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Surface & Coatings Technology 394 (2020) 125857
microstructure is martensite as shown in Fig. 9(a)–(c). This region is
defined as the full hardened layer (FHL). (2) The hardness of the middle
area gradually decreases from 780 HV to 380 HV as the corresponding
microstructure changes from martensite to a mixture of the bright
martensite, the dark ferrite, the pearlite and the carbides as shown in
Fig. 9(d) and (e). This region is defined as the transition layer (TL). (3)
The hardness of the base material (BM) is lower than 380 HV and
maintains at about 320 HV. To obtain a hardened layer with hardness
gradient, a combination of process parameters of the LPJ surface
hardening should be elaborately selected.
Clarifying the effects of parameters of the LPJ surface hardening on
the hardness distribution of the hardened layer is the premise of ob-
taining a desired hardened layer. For this reason, LPJ surface hardening
experiments were conducted at different arc current, scanning velocity
and anode nozzle. Fig. 12 shows the corresponding hardness distribu-
tion along the depth direction of the hardened layer. It can be seen that
the depth of the hardened layer significantly enlarges with the increase
of the arc current or the decrease of the scanning velocity, which is a
result of the increase of the region over austenitizing temperature. From
Fig. 12(a) and (b), at high arc current or low scanning velocity when an
anode nozzle of 7 mm was employed, a transition layer can be pro-
duced, wherein the hardness decreased in gradient due to the gradually
reduced content of martensite. However, as shown in Fig. 12(c), all
hardness curves abruptly drop at the boundary of the hardened layer
when a smaller anode nozzle diameter of 3 mm was employed. Though
the arc current increase to 110 A, almost no hardened area of which the
hardness is between 780 HV and 380 HV occurs. This is because that
the FWHM of the heat flux applied on the workpiece surface is so small
that the cooling rates of the whole hardened layer are too fast to form a
transition layer with hardness gradient. And because the maximum heat
flux at the center position is very big (Fig. 8(b)), if we further reduce the
scanning velocity or increase the arc current, the workpiece surface will
melt. Therefore, to obtain the hardened layer with hardness gradient, a
larger anode nozzle should firstly be selected. And then a suitable arc
current should be set to obtain a larger FWHM of heat flux density
applied on the workpiece surface. Finally, a relatively small scanning
velocity should be used.
3.3. Control scheme for the LPJ surface hardening
Based on the above results and discussion, the control scheme for
the LPJ surface hardening of U75V steel is summarized in Fig. 13.
Firstly, the geometrical dimension of the hardened layer depends on the
size of the heat affected zone with temperature over 730 °C, which is
affected by the heating time and the heat flux applied on the workpiece
surface. By increasing the arc current or decreasing the scanning ve-
locity, wherein the FWHM of the heat flux density applied on the
workpiece surface or the heating time significantly increase, a hardened
layer with larger size can be obtained. Secondly, by setting a small
anode nozzle to increase the maximum heat flux applied on the work-
piece surface and reduce its FWHM, a deeper and narrower hardened
layer can also be achieved. Therefore, the size and shape of the har-
dened layer can be adjusted by changing several working parameters of
the LPJ surface hardening. In addition, the hardness and microstructure
of the hardened layer also can be adjusted by controlling the local
cooling rate within the heat affected zone during the cooling process
after austenitizing. When a large anode nozzle (D = 7 mm) was used,
by increasing the arc current or decreasing the scanning velocity to
obtain the longer heating time and the larger FWHM of the heat flux, a
relatively slower cooling rate can be achieved, which can produce a
transition layer consisting of martensite, ferrite, pearlite and carbides,
whose hardness gradually decreases from 780 HV to 380 HV. But when
a small anode nozzle (D = 3 mm)was used, the FWHM of the heat flux
applied on workpiece surface is very small, the cooling rate of whole
the heat affected zone is very fast so that only the FHL consisting of
martensite occur. Besides, other parameters such as the distance from
D. Guo, et al. Surface & Coatings Technology 394 (2020) 125857

Fig. 11. (a) Vickers indenter marks. (b) Hardness distribution along the depth direction of the hardened layer. D = 7 mm, I = 90 A and v = 150 mm/min.

Fig. 12. The hardness distribution along the depth direction of the hardened layer when different parameters of the LPJ surface hardening were employed.

the exit of the anode nozzle to the surface of the workpiece, the gas rate
etc., also can be adjusted to control the geometrical dimension, the
hardness and microstructure of the hardened layer. Their control me-
chanism can also be attributed to the variation of the heat flux dis-
tribution and the temperature field. The ways for adjusting the har-
dened layer are similar to the above scheme, so they are not discussed
in this paper.

4. Conclusion

In this paper, surface hardening experiments and numerical simu-

lation were carried out to study the mechanism of LPJ surface hard-
ening of U75V steel. Control scheme for the preparation of hardened
layer with desired geometrical dimension, microstructure and hardness
distribution was suggested. Following conclusions can be drawn from
the study:

(1) Obtaining a desired temperature field within the heat affected zone
over the critical austenitizing temperature is the key to adjust the
geometrical dimension of hardened layer. By changing the arc
current or anode nozzle to adjust the FWHM of the heat flux of LPJ
Fig. 13. Illustration shows the control scheme for the LPJ surface hardening of
U75V steel.
applied on the workpiece surface or changing the scanning velocity
to adjust the heating time, the temperature field within the heat
affected zone (maximum temperature) of the hardened layer can be

9
D. Guo, et al.
changed.
(2) Based on the LPJ surface hardening, the hardened layer with
hardness gradient can be effectively prepared. The full hardened
layer consisting of the complete martensite has the hardness of
approximately 800 HV. While the hardness of the transition layer,
whose microstructure is a mixture of martensite, pearlite, ferrite
and carbides, gradually decreases from 780 HV to 380 HV.
(3) A relatively slow cooling rate below the critical austenitizing tem-
perature (730 °C) is the key to produce the transition layer with
hardness gradient. By setting the anode nozzle to control the FWHM
of the heat flux applied on the workpiece surface, increasing the arc
current or decreasing the scanning velocity to effectively slow the
cooling rate at the boundary region of the hardened layer, the
hardness gradient of the hardened layer can be achieved.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Da Guo:Conceptualization, Methodology, Software,
Investigation, Writing - original draft.Deping Yu:Resources, Writing
- review & editing, Supervision, Data curation.Peng
Zhang:Validation, Writing - review & editing, Formal analysis,
Visualization.Yazhou Duan:Investigation, Software.Bin
Zhang:Investigation, Software.Yanjie Zhong:Investigation.Jier
Qiu:Writing - review & editing.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful for the financial support from the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51875372).
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