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Effects of Carburizing Process Variables on Mechanical and Chemical Properties

of Carburized Mild Steel

Article  in  Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences · January 2012

DOI: 10.6000/1927-5129.2012.08.02.11

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 Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences, 2012, 8, 319-324 319

Effects of Carburizing Process Variables on Mechanical and

Chemical Properties of Carburized Mild Steel

A. Oyetunji*,1 and S.O. Adeosun*,2

1
Dept of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering The Federal University of Technology, Akure Ondo State
Nigeria
2
Dept of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering University of Lagos, Akoka Lagos Nigeria
Abstract: This work evaluates the suitability of using palm kernel shell, animal bone (mammalian bones from cattle) and
sea shell (oyster shell) materials as carburizers for case hardening of 0.078%C mild steel. The mild steel sample used in
this study sourced from universal steel company, Ikeja Lagos Nigeria was cut into suitable sizes using hacksaw machine
for tensile and hardness tests. The carburizing media used were milled into fine powder while Barium trioxo (iv)
carbonate (VI) (BaCO 3) was used as an energizer in the carburizing process.
Three rectangular stainless steel plate boxes were fabricated to accommodate each of the steel samples and carburized.
A calculated amount of each carburizer was weighed into each of the stainless steel boxes and 20 wt % of BaC03 was
mixed with each of them. Mild steel samples were covered completely in each of the boxes with the mixture of the
o
carburizer and energizer placed in the furnace chamber. The carburizing temperatures varied between 700 - 1100 C
while the holding time varied between 1-5 hrs. The boxes and its contents were allowed to cool down to room
temperature in the furnace after carburization.
o
All samples were heated to 850 C after been soaked for 30 minutes at this temperature and oil quenched. This was to
o
increase the hardness of the case. Fifteen (15) of these samples were further tempered at 350 C for 2hrs to relieve the
stress built up during quenching. Hardness test, tensile strength tests and chemical analysis were carried out on the
samples. It was observed that the hardness values of the untempered samples are superior to the tempered ones at
0 0 0
carburizing temperatures of 700 C, 800 C and 900 C. On the other hand, the tensile strengths of the tempered samples
0 0 0
are higher relative to the untempered samples at carburizing temperatures of 700 C, 1000 C and 1100 C. The results of
the carbon analysis show that palm kernel shell and animal bone are potentially suitable to be used as a carburizing
0
media than the sea shell at high temperatures (above 1000 C) with holding time above 1 hr.

Keywords: Carburizers, hardness, tensile, carburizing time and temperature, pack carburizing, quenching and
tempering properties.

INTRODUCTION The service condition of many steel components

Many different types of heat treatment processes
are used to modify the surface and structural properties
of engineering components as reported by Child [1].
The engineering of surfaces of components to improve
the life and performance of parts used in automobiles
and aerospace is an active area of research. Suitable
thermal / mechanical / thermo mechanical surface
engineering treatments are known to produce
extensive re-arrangements of atoms in metals and
alloys and a corresponding marked variation in
physical, chemical and mechanical properties. Among
the more important of these treatments are heat
treatment processes such as immersion hardening,
induction hardening and case carburizing as studied by
Child [1].
such as cams, gears and shafts make it necessary for
them to possess both hard and wear-resistant surfaces
at the same time with tough and shock-resistant cores.
In plain carbon steels, these two different sets of
properties exist only in alloy steels. Higgins [2] reported
that low carbon steel, containing approximately 0.1
%C, will be tough and soft, whilst a high carbon steel of
0.8%C or more will be hard and brittle.
Case carburizing involved the diffusion of carbon
into the surface layers of low carbon steel by heating it
in contact with a carbonaceous material. The principle
of case hardening was used centuries ago in the
conversion of wrought iron to steel by 'the cementation
process. This ancient case hardening process make
use of the fact that carbon will diffuse into the iron
provided the iron is in the Face Centered Cubic (FCC)
gamma form which exists above 910°C.

*Address corresponding to these authors at the Dept of Metallurgical and
Materials Engineering The Federal University of Technology, Akure Ondo State
Nigeria; Tel: +2348035795336; E-mail: akinlabioyetunji@yahoo.com
Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering University of Lagos,
Akoka Lagos Nigeria; Tel: +2348036126987;
E-mail: samsonoluropo@yahoo.com
ISSN: 1814-8085 / E-ISSN: 1927-5129/12
Prime, et al., [3] reported that carburizing is one of
the most commonly performed steel heat treatments.
Over the years it was performed by packing the low
carbon wrought iron parts in charcoal, then raising the
temperature of the pack to red heat for several hours.
© 2012 Lifescience Global
320 Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences, 2012 Volume 8
The entire pack, charcoal and iron parts, was then
dumped into water to quench it. The surface became
very hard, while the interior or “core” of the part re-
tained the toughness of low carbon steel.
Craig [4] defined carburizing as a diffusion-
controlled process, so the longer the steel is held in the
carbon-rich environment, the greater the carbon
penetration will be and the higher the carbon content.
The carburized section will have carbon content high
enough so that it can be hardened again through flame
or induction hardening. The objective is to produce a
hard, wear-resistant case which will be resistant to both
bending and contact fatigue whilst still maintaining its
toughness and ductility of the low carbon core as
studied by Stephen and Edward [5].
Surface hardening processes are influenced by heat
treatment temperature, rate of heating and cooling,
heat treatment period, quenching media and
temperature as investigated by Schimizu and Tamura
[6]. Post heat treatment and pre-heat treatment
processes are the major influential parameters, which
affect the quality of the part surface hardened.
Hardenability is essentially the ease of forming
martensite and reflects the ability of a steel to be
hardened to a specified depth as found in prior’s works
of Kirkaldy and Feldman, [7]; and Rudnev et al, [8].
While Rakhit [9]; Rudnev et al., [8]; Smith [10], studied
the factors that increase hardenability and they found
those factors as dissolved elements in austenite
(except CO), coarse grains of austenite, and
homogeneity of austenite.
Automobile components such as rack and pinion,
gears, cam, valve, rocker, shafts and axles, which
require high fatigue resistance, are normally case
hardened by carburizing. The carburizing furnaces are
either gas fired or electrically heated. The carburizing
temperature varies from 870 to 940 °C while the gas
atmosphere for carburizing is produced from liquid or
gaseous hydrocarbons such as propane, butane or
methane as reported by Rajan, et al., [11]. The study of
process parameters in metals during heat treatment
studied by Denis, [12], Leblond [13], Wang, et al., [14];
Liu, et al., [15] has been of considerable interest for
some years but there has been relatively little work on
process variables during the surface hardening process
Table 1: Chemical Composition of Mild Steel Rod
Element C Ca Zn Si S P
% comp 0.078 0.0001 0.005 0.15 0.06 0.05
Oyetunji and Adeosun
reported by Xu and Kuang [15] since controlling
parameters in carburization is a complex problem as
stated by Aramide, et al., [17]. The major influencing
parameters in carburization are the holding time,
carburizing temperature, carbon potential and the
quench time in oil as reported by Shewmon [18].
Locally produced steel does not often meet the
requirement for manufacturing spare parts due to their
low carbon content. When there is need for high carbon
steel case for special purposes, production of high
carbon steel cases locally using abundant local
materials becomes imperative. This will reduce the
burden on foreign reserves and create employment
opportunities. The present work focused on the effects
of carburizing process variables (carburizers,
carburizing temperature and holding time) on the
mechanical and chemical properties of carburized mild
steel. The study is aimed at determining the potential of
materials such as seashell, palm kernel shell and
animal bone as steel carburizers with results
comparable to other commonly used carbonaceous
materials.
EXPERIMENTAL METHODOLOGY
The as-received mild steel rod of 16 mm diameter
was analyzed using spectrometric analyzer and it
chemical composition is shown in Table 1. The various
carburizing media – palmkernel shell, animal bone and
sea shell were obtained and pulverized in ball milling
machine into fine powder to increase the surface area.
Three stainless steel boxes were fabricated to
accommodate the carburizing media, as-received mild
steel rod samples, and the energizer (BaCO3) of 65%
purity level.
These mild steel rods were cut and machined into
tensile and hardness tests pieces. The surfaces of the
samples were polished into mirror-like before the
carburization process began.
The fabricated stainless steel boxes have its density
3
as 700g/cm . The weight of the carburizer was
calculated from the volume of the container used and a
known weight of each of the carburizer was packed into
the stainless steel box with 20 wt % of Barium
trioxocarbonate (iv) salt (BaCO3). The 20 wt % BaCO3
Mn Ni Cr Mo V Cu W As Sn Al Co Fe
0.58 0.13 0.11 0.02 0.001 0.38 0.007 0.005 0.04 0.003 0.01 98.24
Effeects of Carburizing Process Variables on Mechanical Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences, 2012 Volume 8 321

is 140g and was thoroughly mixed with each carburizer Table 3: Typical Characteristics of the Quenching Oil
(As Specified by the Producer: Petro-Canada)
in each of the boxes.
Characteristics Values
The BaCO3 act as energizer and also promotes the
formation of carbon (iv) oxide (CO2) gas, which in turns Viscosity of cSt @ 40 °C 14.0
react with the excess carbon in the media to produce Viscosity of cSt @ 100 °C 3.2
carbon (ii) oxide (CO). This CO reacts with the low Viscosity of SUS @ 100 °F 74
carbon steel surface to form atomic carbon which
Viscosity of SUS @ 210 °F 37
diffuses into the steel. Then the prepared samples
were buried completely in the palm kernel shell, animal Flash Point, °C/ °F 173/343

bone and seashell powder in the respective boxes. Ramsbottom Carbon Residue, Mass% 0.2
Quench Time, seconds
The three boxes contained the carburizing powder
Nickel Ball 16
and the steel samples were placed in the heat
treatment chamber of the heat treatment furnace show Chromized Nickel Ball 19

in (1a). where they were heated to predetermined

temperatures and held at these temperatures for a
predetermined time as shown in Table 2. At each
temperature and holding time, the furnace was allowed
to cool down before the samples were all removed.
Hardening treatment was carried out on all the samples
o
by heating them to a temperature of 850 C for 30
minutes and then quenched in oil. The oil quenchant
physical properties are shown in Table 3.
Chemical Analysis
The chemical analysis of the as-received mild steel
samples and after carburizing processes were carried
on the carburized mild steel by sparking using
spectrometric analyser. The results were shown in
Tables 1 and 4.
Table 4: % Carbon at Various Tempering Temperatures

% Carbon at Various Tempering

O
Temperatures ( C)
S/No Carburizer 700 800 900 1000 1100

1 SS 0.074 0.073 0.079 0.0094 0.0062

2 PKS 0.004 0.066 0.101 0.151 0.53
3 AB 0.078 0.084 0.128 0.131 0.426

As received : 0.078%C
SS=Sea Shell (Oyster Shell), PKS-Palm Kernel Shell; AB-Animal Bone
(Mammilian Bone from Cattle).

Mechanical Test

In each case, test was conducted on three test

samples and the mean value was taken.

(1a). Muffle Furnace. The tensile tests were performed on various tensile
Table 2: Pack Carburizing Processes Done At Different samples using Monsanto tensometer. The fracture load
Temperatures and Times for each sample was noted as well as the diameter at
the point of fracture and the final gauge length. The
Treatment 700 800 900 1000 1100 initial diameter and initial gauge length for each sample
o
temperature ( C)
was noted before applying load. The sample was
Holding time (hrs) 5 4 3 2 1 subjected to uniaxial load, at a fixed crosshead speed
of 10 mm/min. This test was performed in accordance
Fifteen (15) of these quenched samples were with standard used by Aramide et al., [17].
o
tempered at 350 C for 2 hours to relieve internal
stresses built up during quenching and to increase the Rockwell hardness test was carried out on
toughness of the specimens while the remaining 15 carburized, tempered mild steel samples. For each of
samples were untempered after hardening. the sample case the test was conducted 3 times and
322 Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences, 2012 Volume 8 Oyetunji and Adeosun

the average value was taken. The test was performed
in line with Oyetunji and Alaneme [19] previous work
RESULTS
The mechanical tests results are as presented in
Figures (1-4).
DISCUSSION
From the hardness responses shown in Figures 1
and 2 the tempered samples have values which are
0 0
inferior to the untempered ones at 700 C, 800 C and
0
900 C. This is because tempering reduces the
hardness and increases the toughness of the samples.
The tensile strength results shown in Figures 3 and 4
0
revealed that samples carburized at 700 C, 1000 C
0
0
and 1100 C in palm kernel shell carburizer have the
tensile strength values for the tempered samples which
are higher than the untempered ones due to increase
in toughness resulting from tempering. While for animal
bone carburizer, the steel samples show improved
0
tensile strengths at 700 C over untempered samples.
Thus at higher temperature the tensile strengths of
samples in the animal bone carburizer declines. For
samples carburized in sea shell, tensile strengths are

Figure 1: Hardness responses of quenched and tempered samples with carburizing temperature.

Figure 2: Hardness responses of quenched and untempered samples with carburizing temperature.

Figure 3: Tensile strengths of carburized, quenched and tempered steel samples with carburized temperature.
Effeects of Carburizing Process Variables on Mechanical
Figure 4: Tensile strengths of carburized and quenched steel samples with carburizing temperature.
Definition: SS=Sea Shell (Oyster Shell), PKS-Palm Kernel Shell; AB-Animal Bone (Mammilian Bone from Cattle).
0 0
improved for tempered samples at 800 C, 900 C and
0
1000 C in similar pattern as reported by (Aramide et
al.; [17]).
The result of the chemical analysis shown in Table
4 indicates that only palm kernel shell and animal bone
have the potential to be used as carburizing media.
These carburizers show considerable increase in
percentage carbon released into the steel sample
0 0 0
matrix at 900 C, 1000 C and 1100 C when compared
to carbon percentage of the as-receive samples. The
seashell does not have good carbon-release potential
for use as a carburizer as it decarburizes the steel
samples in the process. The presence of martensite in
quenched steel, while greatly increasing its hardness
and tensile strength, causes the material to be brittle as
its formation is accompanied by severe matrix
distortions. The hardness and strength of martensite
structure increased sharply with increase in carbon
content. Contribution to the strength arises from the
carbon in solid solution, carbides precipitated during
the quench, dislocations introduced during the
transformation, and the grain size (Stephen and
Edward) [5].
Through careful controlled tempering treatment, the
quenching stresses can be relieved and some of the
carbon can precipitate from the super saturated solid
solution to a finely dispersed carbide phase. In this
way, the toughness of the steel can be vastly improved
with very little detriment to its hardness and tensile
properties. In steel quenched to a microstructure
consisting essentially of martensite, the iron lattice is
strained by the carbon atoms, producing the high
hardness of quenched steels and upon heating, the
carbon atom diffuse and react in a series of distinct
steps that eventually form Fe3C or alloy carbide in a
ferrite matrix of gradually decreasing stress level. The
properties of the tempered steel are primarily
Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences, 2012 Volume 8 323
determined by the size, shape, composition and
distribution of the carbide that forms with a relatively
minor contribution from the solid solutions hardening of
the ferrite. These changes in microstructure usually
decrease hardness, tensile strength and yield strength
but increase ductility and toughness (Stephen and
Edward) [5].
CONCLUSIONS
In this study, pack carburization of mild steel rod
using palm kernel shell, animal bone, and seashell as
o
carburizers were examined at 700-1100 C. And from
the results obtained, the following deductions can be
made:
1. The hardness of the untempered samples
carburized in palm kernel shell and animal bone
showed higher values than the tempered
samples.
2. The tensile strengths of the samples carburized
0
in powdered palm kernel shell at 1000 C and
0
1100 C and tempered showed higher values
than the untempered ones.
3. For the samples carburized using powdered
palm kernel shell and animal bone, the carbon
content in solid solution increases as
0 0
temperatures increased from 800 C-1100 C.
4. Palm kernel shell and animal bone carburizers
have good potential to be used as a carburizer
for mild steel, while seashell has decline
propensity to be used as a carburizer.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Alhassan Ogwu of The Department of Metallurgical
and Materials Engineering of The Federal University of
 324 Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences, 2012 Volume 8
Technology, Akure Nigeria contribution in the area of
data collection is highly appreciated.
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Received on 02-04-2012 Accepted on 12-05-2012
http://dx.doi.org/10.6000/1927-5129.2012.08.02.11
2012 Oyetunji and Adeosun; Licensee Lifescience Global.
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Published on 05-06-2012