Materials Today: Proceedings 46 (2021) 4169–4173

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Materials Today: Proceedings

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

Optimization of oxy-acetylene flame hardening parameters to analysis

the surface structure of low carbon steel
J. Thamilarasan a,⇑, N. Karunagaran b, P. Nanthakumar c
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr.Sagunthala R&D Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Saveetha School of Engineering, SIMATS, Chennai 602 105, Tamil Nadu, India
c
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Sairam Institute of Technology, Chennai 600 044, Tamil Nadu, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The oxy-acetylene flame hardening is one of the surface structure modification process is also known as
Received 20 February 2021 heat treatment process. Using of high pressure oxy acetylene gas mixture expose to the top surface of the
Accepted 23 February 2021 material with around 30,000 C, and the material comes to recrystalization temperature at that time the
Available online 27 March 2021
work samples is cooled by means of sudden water quenching. This action changes the micro structural
and to increase the micro hardness of the material. The low carbon steel material is selected for this
Keywords: investigation to improve the micro hardness value by the application of oxy-acetylene flame hardening.
Oxy-acetylene
The increasing of hardness with the effects of flame hardening parameters are flame temperature in o C,
Microhardness
Torch cap
torch cap in mm, and quenching period in sec. Taguchi L27 OA is consider for this experiment to evaluate
S/N ratio the maximum microhardness values of specimens effectively. The factors influencing for this study is
Flame hardening estimated through Signal to Noise ratio efficiently.
Taguchi Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Confer-
ence on Materials, Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering for Sustainable Developments-2020.

1. Introduction
In the engineering applications the surface of the work materi-
als are important, the flame hardening effectively alter the
microstructure of the samples and obtain enhanced micro hard-
ness values. Maintaining the continues flame flow and following
the quenching medium are effectively increases the sample
strength. The flame hardening is the low cost process for increasing
the hardness including increase of fatigue strength. The factors of
the flame hardening are played to modified the depth of hardness
and the residual stresses. The quenching time, cooling medium and
the distance between the samples and flame are significantly chan-
ged the microhardness and the metallurgical properties. The
researchers are reported that the 8500 C to 9500 C offers the
attractive hardness values and the residual stresses for the carbon
steels. The wrong selection of parameters for flame hardening
reflect on the output such as formed the brittle fracture, stress cor-
rosion cracking and the fatigue failures. The low carbon steels are
mainly containing of ferrite, this ferrite phase offers the excellent
machinability characters compare to other medium of carbon
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: thamilarasan@veltech.edu.in (J. Thamilarasan).
steels. The low carbon steels are malleable nature it is consider
for the fabrications of car body panels. The low carbon steels are
contains the 0.05% to 0.25% carbon, this investigation concentrated
to modify the microstructure of the low carbon steel with improve-
ment of microhardness by taken of oxy-acetylene flame hardening
process effectively. The proper factors of this investigations are
preferred as flame temperature in o C, torch cap in mm, and
quenching period in sec [1–3]. The micro hardness of the all twenty
seven samples is measured with the help of Vickers hardness test-
ing machine.
2. Materials and properties
For this investigation the low carbon steel is selected to
improve the micro hardness value by applying of oxy-acetylene
flame [3]. The low carbon steels are focused on the civil construc-
tion applications, production of machinery parts, Kitchen appli-
ances and the metal gates preparation. The chemical composition
of the low carbon steel is presented in the Table 1.
The Table 2. illustrated the mechanical properties of the low
carbon steel, the maximum tensile strength of the low carbon is
440 MPa.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2021.02.680
2214-7853/Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Materials, Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering for
Sustainable Developments-2020.
J. Thamilarasan, N. Karunagaran and P. Nanthakumar Materials Today: Proceedings 46 (2021) 4169–4173

Table 1 Table 4
Chemical composition of Low carbon steel. Flame hardening summary.

Elements Wt % of contents Exp. Flame Torch cap in Quenching Micro

Carbon 0.14–0.20 runs Temperature mm (B) period in sec (C) Hardness
Manganese 0.60–0.90% in °C (A) (HV)
Phosphorous  0.040% 1 800 15 20 368.25
Sulfur  0.050% 2 800 15 20 560.23
Iron remainder 3 800 15 20 436.28
4 800 25 40 396.54
5 800 25 40 432.25
6 800 25 40 574.38
7 800 35 60 487.96
Table 2 8 800 35 60 536.74
Mechanical properties of low carbon steel. 9 800 35 60 605.24
10 900 15 40 390.85
Mechanical Properties Metric 11 900 15 40 418.32
Hardness, Vickers (Converted from Brinell hardness) 131 12 900 15 40 426.37
Ultimate tensile Strength 440 MPa 13 900 25 60 642.98
Yield tensile Strength 370 MPa 14 900 25 60 490.37
Elongation at Break (In 50 mm) 15.0% 15 900 25 60 613.28
Reduction of Area 40.0% 16 900 35 20 395.24
17 900 35 20 450.23
18 900 35 20 628.38
19 1000 15 60 496.26
20 1000 15 60 612.32
21 1000 15 60 702.69
22 1000 25 20 501.34
23 1000 25 20 632.46
24 1000 25 20 498.27
25 1000 35 40 515.29
26 1000 35 40 637.24
27 1000 35 40 551.63

Fig. 1. Oxy-acetylene flame hardening arrangements. mum micro hardness was analyzed by the aid of these factors
interaction concludes, which parameters set offer the maximum
3. Experimental setup hardness of the material simply [10–21]. The optimal process
parameters were obtained as flame temperature of 1000 °C, torch
The Oxygen and acetylene gases are separately taken in the cap of 15 mm and the quenching period of 60 s, these optimal val-
cylinders; one end of the hoses are connected in the each cylinder ues provided maximum micro hardness as 702.69 HV.
other ends are connected to the mixing chamber. The mixing From the Table 5 and Table 6 tabulated the response table foe
chamber is used to mix the gases and give the output of the oxy- means and Signal to Noise ratio respectively. In the Tables illus-
acetylene gas formation to the flame torch; the flame torch has trates the quenching period as the first priority factor and create
two passages. The one passage is used to allow the mixed gas for the effects of this experiment [17,18,20,22–26]. The second one
hardening purpose another one hole has used to split the water factor is flame temperature and third factor as torch cap; based
supply to quenching of the low carbon steel after flame hardening on the rank order the priority was noticed [27–35]. The optimal
continually [4–6]. The entire apparatus setup of the oxy-acetylene
flame hardening is illustrated clearly in the Fig. 1.
The twenty seven specimens are cut and sized the dimensions Table 5
of 300  100  15 mm plate for general use. The quenching of Response Table for Means.
water medium, the water is continuously supplied by the use of Level Flame Temperature Torch cap in mm Quenching period in
water pump and the quenching time period are noted with the in °C (A) (B) sec (C)
help of digital stop watch [7–9]. The selected process variables of 1 488.7 490.2 496.7
this experiment are presented in the Table 3; they are flame tem- 2 495.1 531.3 482.5
perature, torch cap and the quenching period. 3 571.9 534.2 576.4
Delta 83.3 44.0 93.9
Rank 2 3 1
4. Results and discussion

The process variables of this investigation and the output of

micro hardness were presented in the Table 4 clearly. The maxi- Table 6
Response Table for Signal to Noise RatiosLarger is better.

Table 3 Level Flame Temperature in Torch cap in mm Quenching period in

Friction stir welding process and its value. °C (A) (B) sec (C)
1 53.49 53.47 53.56
Notation Factors Level-1 Level-2 Level-3
2 53.58 54.25 53.56
A Flame temperature (°C) 800 900 1000 3 54.96 54.31 53.45
B Torch cap (mm) 15 25 35 Delta 1.48 0.84 55.02
C Quenching period (sec) 20 40 60 Rank 2 3 1

4170
J. Thamilarasan, N. Karunagaran and P. Nanthakumar Materials Today: Proceedings 46 (2021) 4169–4173

Fig. 2. Residual plots for Micro hardness.

Fig. 3. Interaction plot for Micro hardness.

factors level of this study concluded as flame temperature of

1000 °C, torch cap of 35 mm and the quenching period of 40 s
[36–43].
The Fig. 2 shows the residual plots for Micro hardness, from the
normal probability graph shows the all the points of this experi-
ments are very closeness to the probability line since the preferred
the variables are in correct way. The versus fits graph the points are
scattered positive and negative manner and within limit [44–49].
The histogram graph the rectangular boxes are splitted based on
the factors influence in effective nature. The versus order plot
shows the maximum points are crossed the mean line in positive
and negative more than 60% it proves all the factors are interacted
in proper mode.
Regression Equation
Micro Hardness (HV) = 9 + 0.416 Flame temperature (°-
C) + 2.20 Torch cap (mm)
+ 1.992 Quenching period (sec)
The Fig. 3 shows the interaction plot for micro hardness for the
low carbon steel material, the torch cap 15 mm and the flame tem-
perature 1000 °C provides the maximum hardness value. The inter- Fig. 4a. Scatter plot of Flame temperature Vs. Micro hardness.

4171
J. Thamilarasan, N. Karunagaran and P. Nanthakumar
Fig. 4b. Scatter plot of Torch cap Vs. Micro hardness.
Fig. 4c. Scatter plot of Quenching period Vs. Micro hardness.
Fig. 5. Specimens Vs Micro hardness.
action of quenching period 60 s and the flame temperature 1000 °C
offered the maximum hardness value, from the interaction plot the
torch cap 15 mm and the quenching period 60 s presented the
maximum hardness values.
From the Fig. 4 (a) visibly shows the scatter plot of flame tem-
perature Vs. Micro hardness, the flame temperature 800 °C gives
the minimum level of the hardness vale. The temperature level
of 900 °C offer the moderate level of the hardness value, the high
hardness values were obtained by implementation of the 1000 °C
4172
Materials Today: Proceedings 46 (2021) 4169–4173
From the Fig. 4 (b) illustrated the minimum micro hardness
were obtained by using of torch cap as 15 mm. The maximum
micro hardness values 600 HV to 700 HV are obtained as influenc-
ing of 25 mm to 35 mm torch cap.
The Fig. 4 (c) plainly showed the scatter plot of Quenching per-
iod Vs. Micro hardness, the 20 s of quenching period causes the
minimum micro hardness such as 350 HV to 625 HV. The 60 s
quenching period increase the micro hardness values as 500 HV
to 700 HV.
The twenty seven samples and its micro hardness values were
illustrated in the Fig. 5, the 50% of samples are got micro hardness
values of more than 500 HV it is an enormous improvement of the
experimental work. The out of 27 samples the maximum micro
hardness value obtained as the sample number 21 and the micro
hardness value as 702. 69 HV.
5. Conclusion
The flame hardening process of the specimens were carried out
efficiently by utilized of oxy-acetylene flame with influencing of
process factors such as flame temperature, torch cap and quench-
ing period. The result of micro hardness was evaluated and the
details of experiments were concluded as follows:
 Among three factors the quenching period as the first priority
and create the effects in the flame hardening. The second factor
was flame temperature and third factor as torch cap. The opti-
mal factors acquired as flame temperature of 1000 °C, torch
cap of 35 mm and the quenching period of 40 s.
 The temperature level of 900 °C recommend the moderate level
of the hardness value, the high hardness values were obtained
by execution of the 1000 °C. The maximum micro hardness val-
ues 600 HV to 700 HV are obtained as manipulating of 25 mm to
35 mm torch cap. The quenching period of 20 s causes the min-
imum micro hardness such as 350 HV to 625 HV. The increasing
of 60 s quenching period increase the micro hardness values as
500 HV to 700 HV.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
References
[1] S. Jeyaraj, K.P. Arulshri, K.P. Harshavardhan, P.S. Sivasakthivel, Int. J. Eng. Appl.
Sci. 226 (12) (2015) 40–44.
[2] M. Dargacz, R. Starosta, J. KONES Powertrain Transport 25 (1) (2018) 41–47,
https://doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0012.2443.
[3] M.K. Lee, G.H. Kim, K.H. Kim, W.W. Kim, J. Mater. Process. Technol. 176 (2006)
140–145, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2006.03.119.
[4] N. Iskandar, M. Sulardjaka, R.Y. Hanasta, D.F. Fitriyana, M. Dzulfikar, IOP Conf.
Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 2019, No. 694, doi:10.1088/1757-
899X/694/1/012025.
[5] A. Omar, A. Barba, A. Rojas, R. Gonzalez, R. Valdez, A. Covelo, M. Hernandez,
Eur. J. Eng. Res. Sci. 3 (4) (2018), https://doi.org/10.24018/ejers.2018.3.4.677.
[6] T. Sathish, Int. J. Mech. Eng. Technol. 09 (11) (2018) 2263–2271.
[7] T. Sathish, Int. J. Mech. Prod. Eng. Res. Dev. 8 (7) (2018) 1515–1535.
[8] T. Sathish, Mater. Today Proc., Elsevier Publisher 05 (6) (2018) 14545–14552.
[9] T. Sathish, Int. J. Recent Technol. Eng., Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering &
Sciences Publication 7 (6) (2019) 281–286.
[10] Sathish, Int. J. Mech. Eng. Technol. 10 (01) (2019) 984–992.
[11] Sathish,, Appl. Mech. Mater. 852 (2016) 324–330.
[12] T. Sathish, Int. J. Mech. Prod. Eng. Res. Dev. (Special Issue) (2018) 705–710.
[13] T. Sathish, Mater. Today Proc., Elsevier Publisher 05 (6) (2018) 14416–14422.
[14] T. Sathish, Int. J. Vehicle Struct. Systems 11 (4) (2019) 417–421.
[15] T. Sathish, J. Mater. Res. Technol., Elsevier Publisher 8 (5) (2019) 4354–4363.
[16] V. Vijayan, T. Sathish, R. Saravanan, I.J.I. Premkumar, S. Basker, A. Parthiban,
AIP Conf. Proc. 2283 (1) (Oct 2020) 020066.
J. Thamilarasan, N. Karunagaran and P. Nanthakumar
[17] T. Sathish, D.B. Subramanian, R. Saravanan, V. Dhinakaran, AIP Conf, Proc, 2283
(1) (2020) 020125.
[18] G. Raja, D. Chandramohan, B.K. Gnanavel, T. Sathish, AIP Conf. Proc. 2283 (1)
(2020) 020081.
[19] I.J.I. Premkumar, S. Basker, R. Saravanan, V. Vijayan, A. Parthiban, T. Sathish,
AIP Conf. Proc. 2283 (1) (2020) 020068.
[20] T. Sathish, K. Muthukumar, R. Saravanan, V. Dhinakaran, AIP Conf. Proc. 2283
(1) (2020) 020126.
[21] S. Basker, A. Parthiban, R. Saravanan, V. Vijayan, T. Sathish, I.J.I. Premkumar,
AIP Conf. Proc. 2283 (1) (2020) 020065.
[22] A. Parthiban, V. Vijayan, R. Saravanan, T. Sathish, I.J.I. Premkumar, S. Basker,
AIP Conf. Proc. 2283 (1) (2020) 020064.
[23] T. Sathish, S. Arunkumar, R. Saravanan, V. Dhinakaran, AIP Conf. Proc. 2283 (1)
(2020) 020124.
[24] T. Sathish, I.J.I. Premkumar, R. Saravanan, S. Basker, A. Parthiban, V. Vijayan,
AIP Conf. Proc. 2283 (1) (2020) 020067.
[25] D. Chandramohan, T. Sathish, S.D. Kumar, M. Sudhakar, AIP Conf. Proc. 2283 (1)
(2020) 020084.
[26] V. Mohanavel, K.S. Ashraff Ali, S. Prasath, T. Sathish, J. Mater. Res. Technol.,
Elsevier Publisher (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2020.09.128.
[27] T. Sathish, S. Dinesh Kumar, J. Sci. Ind. Res., NISCAIR Publisher 79 (9) (2020,
2020,) 843–845.
[28] T. Sathish, J. Sci. Ind. Res., NISCAIR Publisher 79 (8) (2020) 750–752.
[29] S. Rajesh, D. Chandramohan, T. Sathish, Mater. Today Proc., Elsevier Publisher
(2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.08.296.
[30] K. Gurusami, S. Shalini, T. Sathish, Mater. Today Proc., Elsevier Publisher
(2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.08.302.
[31] D. Logendran, D. Chandramohan, T. Sathish, Mater. Today Proc., Elsevier
Publisher (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.08.310.
[32] D. Madhesh, K. Jagatheesan, T. Sathish, K. Balamanikandasuthan, Mater. Today
Proc., Elsevier Publisher (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.06.600.
[33] D. Chandramohan, M. Dhanashekar, T. Sathish, S. Dinesh Kumar, Mater. Today
Proc., Elsevier Publisher (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.07.657.
[34] G. Muthu, T. Sathish, V. Dhinakaran, M.D. Vijayakumar, K.P. Vignesh, Mater.
Today Proc., Elsevier Publisher (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.matpr.2020.073.379.
4173
Materials Today: Proceedings 46 (2021) 4169–4173
[35] T. Sathish, G. Muthu, M.D. Vijayakumar, V. Dhinakaran, P.M. Bupathi Ram,
Mater. Today Proc., Elsevier Publisher (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.matpr.2020.07.395.
[36] V. Dhinakaran, M.D. Vijayakumar, G. Muthu, T. Sathish, P.M. Bupathi Ram,
Mater. Today Proc., Elsevier Publisher (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.matpr.2020.07.394.
[37] M.D. Vijayakumar, V. Dhinakaran, T. Sathish, G. Muthu, P.M. Bupathi Ram,
Mater. Today Proc., Elsevier Publisher (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.matpr.2020.07.391.
[38] T. Sathish, J. New Mater. Electrochem. Systems, IIETA Publisher 23 (4) (2020)
235–243.
[39] Yogesh Palani, Chandramohan Devarajan, Dhanashekar Manickam, Sathish
Thanikodi, Environ. Eng. Res, Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
(KSEE) (2020), https://doi.org/10.4491/eer.2020.338.
[40] K. Yoganandam, K. Raja, P. Ganeshan, V. Mohanavel, 2016, Int. J. Print.,
Packaging Allied Sci., (ISSN:2320-4387), 4(5), pp. 3669-3673.
[41] K. Yoganandam, P. Ramshankar, P. Ganeshan & K. Raja (2018), Int. J. Ambient
Energy , ISSN: 0143-0750 (pp) 2162-8246.
[42] K. Yoganandam, P. Ganeshan, B. NagarajaGanesh, K. Raja, (2019) J. Nat. Fibers,
Taylor & Francis.
[43] K. Yoganandam, B. NagarajaGanesh, P. Ganeshan, K. Raja, Mater. Res. Express
10 (6) (2019) 105341.
[44] K. Yoganandam, Raja, K. Lingadurai, Indian J. Sci. Technol. 9 (41) (2016) 1–4.
[45] V. Mohanavel, K. Rajan, S. Karthikeyan, M. Naveen Kumar, K. Yoganandam,
Appl. Mech. Mater. 852 (2016) 422–427.
[46] N. Karunagaran, G. Bharathiraja, A. Muniappan, K. Yoganandam, Mater. Today:
Proc. 22 (2020) 1078–1084.
[47] K. Siva Nagu, K. Yoganandam, V. Mohanavel, R. Deepak Joel Johnson, Mater.
Today Proc. (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.03.511.
[48] R. Ashok Reddy, K. Yoganandam, V. Mohanavel, Mater. Today: Proc. (2020),
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.03.511.
[49] K. Yoganandam, V. Mohanavel, J. Vairamuthu, V. Kannadhasan, Mater. Today:
Proc. (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.04.569.