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    3 views8 pages

    NSo DTY9 P

    Uploaded by

    ashav patel

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    PACK-CARBURIZING OF STEEL: THE EFFECT.OF COMPOSITIONAL AND PROCESS VARIABLES ON CASF DEPTH ADENIYI A. AFONJA Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering University of Ife, Ie-Ife. ABSTRACT Pack-carburizing is used extensively ti industry to confer high strength and wear resistance on machine components. The Influence of tempera- ture, residence time, pack and alloy composition on the case depth was investigated and the results show that both temperature and time have a posi- tive Influence but the latter Is a more flexible and useful control variable. Furthermore, the risk of cracking increases with temperature. The addition of energiser to the pack mixture Increases the case depth but there is no further advantage If the amount is greater than about 10 percent for the con- ditions of this investigation. Alloying elements significantly Influence both the carbon penetration profile and the quench-hardenability of steel. INTRODUCTION Machine components that are required to have a high resistance to corrosion, fatigue or wear are often made from plain carbon steels and then given 4 surface-hardening heat treatment. This process is commonly used in preference to the alternative one of manufacturing the component from alloy steel because it is cheaper and low-carbon steel ig more readily available. The surface-hardening treatment promotes the diffusion of carbon (carburizing) or nitrogen (nitriding) or both (carbo- nitriding) into the surface layer of the steel. This is followed ‘by quench-hardening from a suitable austenitizing temperature. Carburizing is the most widely used method of case-hardening and utilizes carbon derived from a solid, liquid or gaseous .source. The solid-carbon process (pack-carburizing) jis the cheapest and most flexible, hence is widely applied in industry, Although pack-carburizing is a very old process and the main variables which influence the depth of carbon penetration have been identified, the manner in which each variable Accepted for publication February 10, 1981. affects the diffusion of carbon into the component can only be described in very general terms. The objective of the investigation reported in this paper, was to determine the effect of pack composition, temperature, carburizing time and alloying elements on the case depth. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATION The basic practice of pack-carburizing involves heating the component in a carbonaceous mixture consisting of one or more carbon sources - peat. coke, charred bone, fuel oil and molasses. The carburizing temperature is between 750 and 1000°C. for residence times up to 40 nours, depending on the desired case depth. The carbon reacts with oxygen to produce nascent carbon according to the following equations: C £0; = oh 2C + 02= 200 2C0 = C02 =C ‘The addition of a carbonate of barium, sodium or calcium increases the concentration of carbon monoxide in the carburizing atmosphere, and hence the amount of nascent carbon produced as shown in the following equations: BaC0? Co, + C }a0 + COr 100 ‘TEST EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS Test equipment The tests were carried out in an electrically heated box furnace having a maximum temperature of 1200°C, fitted with an electronic controler capable of maintaining the set temperature at a maximum deviation of + 2°C. Two types of car- burizing boxes were made from type 816 stainless steel cylindrical bars. The dimensions are shown 210 in Figure 1(a). The cover of each box had a thermo: couple well through which a chrome-alumel thermocouple was passed into the carburizing chamber. The cold junctions were connected to a multi-channel digital temperature indicator. The hot zone of the furnace was located with the aid of a thermocouple probe and demarcated by placing a ceramic platform large enough to accommodate four carburizing chambers. Test materials A plain carbon steel and two-alloy steels were selected from a wide range of carburizing steels normally used in industry. The three materials had approximately the same amount of carbon. Also, nine additional plain carbon steels containing varying amounts of carbon in the range 0.10 to 1.20% were selected for the determination of the ‘carbon content versus quench-hardness calibration. curve. Details of the materials are shown in Table 1. ‘The samples were supplied in the form of 12-mm. diameter annealed bars from which test specimens 10mm long were cut. Carburizing mixture The most common base constituent of industrial pack-carburizing mixtures is charcoal. Other compounds such as peat coke, charred bone, fuel oil, molasses and carbonates may be added in varying proportions. The mixture used in this investigation consisted of charcoal ground and sieved to -5 to +2mm, consistent with common practice. The material was then mixed with varying amounts of barium carbonate. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Carbon content-quench hardness calibration curve ‘One sample each of the ten plain carbon steels was austenitized at 900°C for 30 minutes in a sodium/ potassium chloride bath followed by salt- ‘quenching and tempering at 600°C. The samples were then mounted in bakelite and the micro- hardness profiles determined on a metallograph fitted with micro-indentation and point counting systems, Two diametric profiles at right angles to each other were taken accross each sample in steps of 0.5mm and the average of all readings computed. Samples of the two low alloy steels were also treated in the same manner. Jo Min, Geol, 17[2]: 209 - 216 1980). Determination of case depth Ideally, the depth of penetration of carbon in the carburized sample should be determined by step measurement of the carbon concentration along a diameter of the sample. However, this would have been very tedious and time consuming considering the large number of samples involved, hence the case depth was obtained indirectly by taking the micro-hardness profiles on the carburized and quench-hardened samples. The corresponding carbon profiles could then be obtained from the carbon content-quench hardness calibration curve. In any case, the hardness profile is of greater practical significance than the carbon concentration profile. The case depth was taken as the distance from the surface at which the Vicker’s pyramid hardness number was 500. This corresponds to a carbon content of about 0.4%, the minimum considered necessary for effective hardening. Step increments of between 0.05 and 0.20mm were used depending on the anticipated magnitude of the case depth. The effect of pack composition on the case depth Having selected charcoal as the carbon source, the only variable in pack composition was the amount of energizer added. Sixteen mixtures containing various amounts of barium carbonate in, the range 0 to 30 percent were prepared and packed. around samples of the plain carbon steel A2 as shown in Figure 1(b). Four boxes, each having four chambers were used and each chamber contained a different amount of barium carbonate. The four boxes were arranged in the hot zone of the furnace and the temperaure was raised gradually until 900°C was attained in the carburiz- ing chamber. This temperature was held for four hours after which the furnace was shut down and the boxes were allowed to cool slowly to room temp- perature. The steel samples were then austenitized, quenched and tempered as described previously. The case depth of each sample was then determined from the hardness profiles. The effect of temperature, carburizing time and alloy composition on the case depth. Samples of each alloy A2, B and C were carburized in a standard mixture containing 10 percent barium carbonate at three temperatures: 850°C, 900°C and 950°C. and for various car- burizing times between 3 and 45 hours. Single- chamber boxes were used in all tests except those AFONJA: PACK-CARBURIZING OF STELL 211 1020) 60 CAH 4 oft 25mm dic. hoies ct 60mm ped 1— refractory cement sample pack mixture tails of carburizing chambers. Dimensions lier my showing a packod ehamber. 212 involving different samples carburized at the same temperature and residence time. The samples were then austenitized, quenched, tempered and analysed for hardness penetration in the usual, manner. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS The relationship between the carbon content and hardness of quenched samples of the plain carbon steels is shown in Figure 2. The hardness increases rapidly with increasing carbon content up to about 0.8 percent carbon. Further increases in carbon content have a progressively diminishing effect on the hardness. A microscopic examination of all samples etched in 2 percent nital revealed some retained austenite, the extent of which appeared to increase with carbon content.See Platel(A) A rough estimation of the amount of retained austenite in cach sample was determined by the point counting technique on a Wild metallurgical microscope fitted with an automatic point counting facility. Five hundred systematic points were counted on each sample and the proportion of points falling on austenite determined. The curve obtained is shown in Figure 8. Thereis asignificant change in the slope 900. 200) 700- hardness, vpn 8.3 oop i e 8 200! 0 02 04 06 O8 1 12 carbon % Fig. 2Quenchshardenabity - Carbon content calibra oncure: Allys Ar

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