Trans Indian Inst Met
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12666-019-01810-0
TECHNICAL PAPER
Surface Characteristics and Distortion Analysis of the Case-
Hardened Helical Gears: A Comparison of Different Case-
Hardening Treatments
Serhan Gençoğlu1 • Aysel Yazıcı2
Received: 12 June 2019 / Accepted: 16 September 2019
 The Indian Institute of Metals - IIM 2019
Abstract In this study, the effect of different case-hard-
ening treatments on microstructure, hardness distribution,
surface roughness parameters, and dimensional changes
was investigated for helical-toothed gears made of
16MnCr5 and 21NiCrMo2 steels. Gas carburizing, gas
carburizing–double quenching, low-pressure carburizing,
and plasma-nitriding treatments were performed as case-
hardening processes. The surface characteristics and dis-
tortion analyses of the case-hardened helical gears were
examined using an optical microscope, hardness tester,
profilometer, and micrometer. In order to ensure adequate
pitting and bending strength, the required minimum
effective case depth and minimum total case depth values
were provided by the performed case-hardening treatments.
In the gears, the largest dimensional increase after the heat
treatments occurred at the end of the gas carburizing due to
the long treatment times at high processing temperatures.
The surface roughness values obtained through all per-
formed case-hardening treatments necessitated the finish-
ing processes.
Keywords Helical gears  Gas carburizing 
Low-pressure carburizing  Plasma nitriding 
Surface roughness  Dimensional changes
& Aysel Yazıcı
aysel.yazici@cbu.edu.tr
1
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,
Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Manisa
Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey
2 Low-pressure carburizing (LPC) is a surface-hardening
Department of Machine and Metal Technologies, Turgutlu
Vocational School, Manisa Celal Bayar University,
Turgutlu, Manisa, Turkey
1 Introduction
Gears are the most important of the elements that transmit
motion and power in machine systems. High transmission
efficiency, reliability, longevity, stable transmission ratio,
and compact structure can be shown as some of the
advantages of the gears [1]. Due to the nature of motion–
power transmission, gears work under difficult conditions.
Gears are usually prone to different problems including
pitting on tooth flanks, spalling, wearing, tooth bending
fatigue, and scoring since they are subjected to various
forces such as bending and contact stresses and impact
forces [2, 3]. The major compelling factor in the trans-
mission of the motion is friction, and as a result of this,
wear occurs in gears. In gears, reducing friction and
increasing wear resistance depend on the surface hardness
and surface roughness of gears. Increasing the surface
hardness and decreasing the surface roughness of gears
provide possibilities for increasing transmission efficiency
and extending the life span. In addition to wearing resis-
tance and a hard core preventing brittleness under high
impact loads, a hard case ensuring adequate fatigue
strength is required for high-performance gear components
[4].
The main purpose of the heat treatment is to ensure that
the microstructure at the critical locations has the required
contact and bending strength capacity [5]. In carburizing
process, carbon is absorbed into the surfaces of parts made
of low-carbon steel in controlled environments and at a
temperature above Ac3 by diffusion mechanism; then, the
parts are strengthened by forming a layer containing the
martensite phase through cooling their surfaces rapidly [6].
process performed in vacuum furnaces utilizing hydrocar-
bon gases under very low pressure (2–20 mbar) and high
123

temperatures [7]. In the LPC, the formation of metal oxides
is prevented since an oxygen-free hydrocarbon gas is used
and the furnace chamber is kept at a low pressure to
remove any oxygen that may be present in the environment
[8]. In nitriding treatment, the surface characteristics of the
material are changed by introducing nitrogen (N) to the
surface of material via diffusion. The nitriding surface-
hardening process is carried out for unalloyed and low-
alloy steels usually at 450–650 C diffusion temperatures
under the Ac1 temperature. When the geometry and toler-
ances of the gear do not provide any possibility to other
hardening techniques due to distortion, and when sufficient
wear and pitting resistance are not ensured with the hard-
ened gears, gears subjected to the nitriding treatment are
used. In the ion-nitriding process, which is also called as
‘‘plasma nitriding’’ or ‘‘glow discharge nitriding,’’ in order
to influence the surface nitrogen penetration, ionized
nitrogen gas is used through ion bombardment [5].
Distortion of the gear during the heat treatment is
unavoidable because of the thermal stresses and phase
transformations. 50–60% of the distortions occurring dur-
ing the gear-manufacturing processes are affected by
chemical composition, structure, and geometry [9, 10],
while 20–40% are affected by furnace type, cooling med-
ium, uniformity of cooling, and the operation gasses [11].
The effect of different case-hardening processes on
gears has been studied by many researchers. However, not
many studies have been found in the literature revealing
and comparing the positive and negative aspects of dif-
ferent surface-hardening processes in terms of dimensional
changes and surface roughness values after heat treatment.
Eliminating the dimensional changes and increasing the
surface quality require surface-finishing processes which
impose additional costs to manufacturers.
In this study, case-hardening processes such as gas
carburizing, gas carburizing–double quenching, low-pres-
sure carburizing, and plasma-nitriding treatment were
applied to gears produced from different materials and
having different modules. After case-hardening processes,
surface characteristics of gears and the subsequent
dimensional changes were investigated. A comparison of
surface-hardening methods in terms of dimensional chan-
ges and surface properties was aimed to provide data for
the selection of appropriate case-hardening method.
Table 1 Chemical composition of investigated steels (wt%, Fe balance)
Material C Si Mn P S
21NiCrMo2 0.224 0.242 0.613 0.006 \ 0.150
16MnCr5 0.193 0.298 1.106 0.006 \ 0.150
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2 Materials and Methods
Chemical composition of investigated steel was determined
by Bruker Q4 Tasman metal spectrometer and is given in
Table 1. The dimensions of produced helical gears are
shown in Fig. 1, and the case-hardening conditions are
given in Table 2.
The microstructures of samples were examined by
optical microscopy. For the microstructure examination by
optical microscopy, the samples were cut from case-hard-
ened gears and were polished by Metkon Forcipol IV
polishing machine. The samples were polished using
80–120–240–400–800–1200–2000-grit SiC paper and
6-lm diamond grit suspension, and then the samples were
etched with Nital 2 (98% ethyl alcohol, 2% HNO3) etchant
for 10 s. The microstructures were investigated by Nikon
Eclipse MA100 image analyzer optical microscope and
using Clemex Vision Lite Computer program. The samples
for the metal spectrometer and hardness measurement were
prepared in the same manner as the samples prepared for
microstructure examination, but without etching (Fig. 2).
The hardness distribution profiles of the case-hardened gear
samples were examined employing a hardness testing
machine (Emcotest Duroscan 20 Micro-Hardness Tester)
applying a load of 10 N for 10 s according to the ASTM
E92 [12]. Surface roughness parameters of the samples
were examined employing a Mitutoyo SJ-301 optical pro-
filometer. The surface roughness measurement was carried
out on five different samples and in three different regions
on the front surface of each sample, and the mean values
were calculated. In order to measure dimensional changes
occurring on gears after the heat treatments, Mitutoyo
Micrometer with 0.001 mm precision was used, and the
measurements were performed in five replicates. Control
measurement value (Wk), which was used to determine
dimensional changes, varied depending on the number of
teeth to be measured, the normal module, the number of
teeth of the gear wheel, and the pressure angle [13]. The
number of teeth to be measured was calculated as 4 for the
gears made of 16MnCr5 steel and 9 for the gears made of
21NiCrMo2 steel.
Cr Mo Ni Cu Al Ti
0.402 0.223 0.406 0.187 0.034 0.0013
0.896 0.017 0.081 0.194 0.019 0.0017
Trans Indian Inst Met

Fig. 1 Dimensions (in mm) of the helical gears. a 16MnCr5; reference cylinder helix angle 20, module 2, number of teeth 22 b 21NiCrMo2;
reference cylinder helix angle 16, module 1.5, number of teeth 66

Table 2 Case-hardening treatment conditions

Heat treatment Temperature, potential of atmosphere, and duration Quenching Tempering temperature and
medium duration

Plasma nitriding 450 C/30 h, Gas pressure: 2 mbar

Ratio of gas: (N2:H2): 3:1 – –
(Heating 4 h and cooling 4 h under vacuum)
Low-pressure carburizing Ambient pressure: 700 mbar
1. step: 350 ml C2H2, 970 C, 15 min
2. step: 100 ml C2H2, 970 C, 10 min
3. step (three times): 80 ml C2H2, 970 C, 10 min
The temperature of the samples is reduced to 860 C for Oil/70 C 200 C/120 min
quenching
Gas carburizing 960 C, 1.35% C, 120 min
960 C, 0.75% C, 60 min
820 C, 0.75% C, 60 min Oil/100 C 170 C/120 min
Gas carburizing [double quenching 1. Quenching
(DQ)] 960 C, 1.35% C, 120 min
960 C, 0.75% C, 60 min
820 C, 0.75% C, 60 min Oil/100 C 170 C/120 min
2. Quenching
925 C, 1.20% C, 100 min
925 C, 0.75% C, 30 min
860 C, 0.75% C, 30 min Oil/60 C 160 C/70 min

3 Results carbon martensite, some retained austenite, and carbides

The microstructures of case-hardened and untreated gear
surface layers are shown in Fig. 3. As can be seen from
Fig. 3, the microstructures of gas carburized and LPC
samples are tempered martensites and consist of high-
(e-Fe2C) within the martensite matrix’s main phase. Due to
the increase in carbon content on the surface as a result of
the carburizing processes, the structure in the surface layers
is plate martensite. The retained austenite (c Fe) and car-
bon content in the matrix of martensite decrease from the

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Fig. 2 Hardness tester and
samples for hardness
measurement
surface to the core for the carburized samples. The thick-
ness of the brittle compound layer (white layer) consisting
of e (Fe2–3N) and/or c’ (Fe4N) nitrides changes in the range
of 6–7.7 lm for the gears made of 16MnCr5 steel and
7–7.7 lm for the gears made of 21NiCrMo2 steel. The
microstructure of samples consists of ferrite and pearlite
before heat treatments (Fig. 3).
Regarding the surface roughness parameters of the tes-
ted helical gears, the arithmetic mean deviation of the
roughness profile (Ra), the maximum height of the
roughness profile (Rz), and the root-mean-square deviation
of the roughness profile (Rq) are given in Table 3. The
average dimensional changes in the gears are given in
Table 4. Figures 4 and 5 show the microhardness distri-
butions of the gears along the depth direction.
4 Discussion
As can be seen in Figs. 4 and 5, for all case-hardened
samples, the hardness decreases from the surface of the
tooth to core. For carburized and hardened steel gears,
58–64 HRC case hardness is required according to the
existing standards in order to achieve allowable stress
numbers for pitting and bending of the quality level grades
2 and 3 according to the AGMA 2001-D04 standard [14].
For the carburized gears, to be able to determine the effi-
cient case depth, the hardness limit is taken as 50
HRC & 513 HV (which is normal to the surface of the
tooth, at midface width and at 0.5 tooth height) [14].
Regarding nitrided gears, while the case depth (at midface
width and tooth height of 0.5) is defined as depth that is
below the surface where hardness drops to 110% of the
core hardness, it is also specified as the total case depth
[14]. Smith (1998) reported that for the nitrided layers, case
depth is generally described as the depth where the hard-
ness drops to 400 HV [15].
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Based on these abovementioned approaches, it can
concluded that for helical gears made of 16MnCr5 steel,
while the effective case depth is 0.8 mm for gas carbur-
izing and 1.05 mm for LPC, the total case depth of the
plasma-nitriding heat treatment is 1.4 mm (Fig. 4). For the
helical gears made of 21NiCrMo2 steel, the effective case
depth values are measured as 1.4 and 0.9 mm for the case-
hardening processes of gas carburizing (DQ) and LPC,
respectively. For this steel, the total case depth is 0.4 mm
for plasma nitriding (Fig. 5). As can be seen in Fig. 5, due
to the limited nitrogen solubility of ferrite and a low dif-
fusion coefficient caused by low process temperatures [16],
a shallow hard surface layer is formed in plasma nitriding,
and it is observed that the hardness rapidly decreases
within the diffusion zone. Extending the processing time of
gas carburizing and the application of double quenching
increase the effective case depth in the gears made of
21NiCrMo2 steel. In accordance with the literature results,
the diffusion process and the fact that the process gas is
given to the environment intermittently in the LPC process
prevents the C concentration on the surface, allowing the
formation of the case hardening depth and the diffusion of
C into the internal structure [17].
One of the important parameters affecting the bending
and pitting strength of gears is the case-hardening depth.
To be able to resist the tooth root fillet tensile stresses and
the subsurface shear stresses caused by tooth contact loads,
adequate case depth is required by the teeth of the surface-
hardened gear. For carburized gears and normal case depth
conditions, the suggested minimum effective case depth at
pitch-line hemin is 0.119935 9 P-0.86105
nd , and the suggested
maximum effective case depth at pitch-line hemax is the
lesser of P0:4
nd
[14].
Pd
Pnd ¼ ð4:1Þ
Cosw
Trans Indian Inst Met

Fig. 3 Microstructure of samples by optical microscopy etched with Nital 2

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Table 3 Average surface roughness parameters of the helical gears

Steel Heat treatment Ra (lm) Rz (lm) Rq (lm)

16MnCr5 Before heat treatment 1.885 ± 0.247 11.425 ± 0.106 2.330 ± 0.354
Plasma nitriding 2.165 ± 0.841 13.678 ± 7.585 2.685 ± 1.081
Low-pressure carburizing 1.973 ± 0.279 13.593 ± 3.427 2.525 ± 0.389
Gas carburizing 1.380 ± 0.910 9.030 ± 5.616 1.725 ± 1.128
21NiCrMo2 Before heat treatment 1.903 ± 0.373 11.047 ± 3.185 2.357 ± 0.475
Plasma nitriding 1.948 ± 0.190 10.805 ± 1.671 2.360 ± 0.281
Low-pressure carburizing 2.190 ± 1.162 14.153 ± 7.519 2.848 ± 1.598
Gas carburizing (DQ) 1.643 ± 0.509 9.603 ± 4.443 2.030 ± 0.666

Table 4 Average dimensional change of the helical gears

Heat treatment 16MnCr5/Wk (mm) 21NiCrMo2/Wk (mm)

Before heat treatment 21.615 ± 0.010 39.615 ± 0.037

Plasma nitriding 21.643 ± 0.021 39.607 ± 0.012
Low-pressure carburizing 21.603 ± 0.021 39.643 ± 0.031
Gas carburizing 21.677 ± 0.021 –
Gas carburizing (DQ) – 39.657 ± 0.031

Fig. 4 Hardness distribution Low Pressure Carburizing Plasma Nitriding

profile at 0.5 tooth height of the Gas Carburizing Before Heat Treatment
gears made of 16MnCr5 steel
761 750
800
690
700 697 610
628 574
600 512 534
614
Hardness, HV1

546 475
500 464 453
497 447
475 436
400 453
416 378
300
196 195 202 202 197 189 198
200

100

0
0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60
16MnCr5 Distance From Surface, (mm)

p According to the guideline of American Gear Manu-

Pd ¼
Px tan w facturers Association (AGMA), for nitrided gears and
normal case depth conditions, minimum total case depth
or normal diametral pitch can be expressed as follows [18]:
(hcmin) is:
25; 4
Pnd ¼
mn
: ð4:2Þ hcmin ¼ 4:32896  102  9:68115  103 Pnd þ 1:20185
 103 P2nd  6:79721  105 P3nd þ 1:37117
(In the formulas, Pnd is the normal diametral pitch, in-1; Pd  106 P4nd
is the transverse diametral pitch, in-1; Px is the axial pitch,
ð4:3Þ
in-1; w is the helix angle at standard pitch diameter; mn is a
normal module, in mm.) According to Eqs. (4.1) or (4.2), the required hemin

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Trans Indian Inst Met
Fig. 5 Hardness distribution Low Pressure Carburizing
profile at 0.5 tooth height of the Gas Carburizing (DQ)
gears made of 21NiCrMo2 steel 900
777 758
800
700 747
Hardness, HV1
734
600
481
500 422
400
300
197 207
200
100
0
0.00 0.20
21NiCrMo2
values and, according to Eq. (4.3), hcmin values are
provided by the performed case-hardening treatments.
The minimum and maximum effective case depth and
minimum total case depth ranges can be used as a guide.
The method of measuring the case as well as the allowable
tolerance in case depth may be an issue of agreement
between the gear customer and the manufacturer [14].
There is a fine balance between the brittle tooth cracking at
higher case depth and the pitting propensity at lower case
depth; this is called the optimum or ideal case depth [14].
Since the case-hardening depth may provide a contribution
to the reduction in the risk of the crack initiation below the
surface in addition to being a significant parameter for the
gear strength, it may also reduce the failure risk caused by
the tooth flank fracture [19].
In the gears made of both steels, within a much shorter
processing time, the LPC process provide the desired surface
hardness and effective case depth values in the gears
(Table 2, and Figs. 4, 5). While the long process times at
high temperatures increase the case-hardening depth in
carburizing, they also lead to coarsening of the grains. On the
other hand, in addition to the fine acicular martensite and
bainite in the core, fine acicular martensite in the case is also
required in order to achieve the ideal load-carrying capacity;
it is known that fine grain size has a positive effect on the
tooth root load carrying capacity and gear flank [19].
For the nitrided steel gears, in order to achieve the
allowable contact and bending stress number, it is recom-
mended that the maximum white layer thickness is 0.0008
(20.32 lm—for grade 2) and 0.0005 (12.7 lm—for grade
3) inches, and the minimum core hardness is 28 HRC (for
grade 2) and 32 HRC (for grade 3) [14]. The plasma-ni-
triding treatment provide these conditions in both steel
gears (Figs. 3, 4, 5).
As given in Table 3, it is observed that the surface
roughness values are influenced by the content of the alloy,
Plasma Nitriding
Before Heat Treatment
702
680
612
673 569 519
595
430
372 352
349 324
357 341 322
192 185 185
173 178
0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60
Distance From Surface, (mm)
heat treatment type, and conditions. In the gears made of
both steels, it can be seen that the surface roughness
reduces at the end of the gas carburizing process compared
to the other heat treatments. While the highest surface
roughness values for the gears made of 16MnCr5 steel are
obtained through the plasma-nitriding treatment, the high-
est surface roughness values for the gears made of
21NiCrMo2 steel occur at the end of the LPC process. It
has been reported that the plasma-nitrided samples may be
essentially rougher as is expected from the formation of a
nitride layer due to the nitrogen ion bombardment [20, 21].
In order to achieve the desired minimum surface roughness
values in the gears (Ra B 0.3 lm and Rz B 2 lm, for
good level and above), the surface roughness values
obtained as a result of all the performed heat treatments
necessitate the finishing processes (such as grinding, hon-
ing, or other processes to finish the gear surface). As
known, Rz is a surface roughness parameter related to the
calculation of the tooth bending strength. As surface
roughness decreases, the safety factor increases against
tooth bending. To calculate scuffing load capacity, Ra is
applied; additionally, increasing of the surface roughness
causes a higher friction coefficient leading to increased
scuffing damage in the gears [22]. Reducing Ra value
increases the micro-pitting safety factor.
As can be seen in Table 4, the largest dimensional
change in the gears made of 16MnCr5 steel occurs in the
gas-carburizing process, and this is followed by the
plasma-nitriding and LPC processes, respectively. Also,
the largest dimensional change in the gears made of
21NiCrMo2 steel occurs in the process of gas carburizing
(DQ), and this is followed by the LPC and plasma-nitriding
treatment, respectively. It is known that dimensional
changes and distortions are influenced by some parameters
such as the geometry of the gear, carbon potential of the
carburizing atmosphere, carbon and alloy content of the
123

base material, carburizing temperature, the temperature
before the quenching, type of the quenching, and agitation
amount [5]. In gas carburizing, the long processing times at
high processing temperatures increase the dimensional
change by causing coarsening of the grains [23]. Compared
to the conventional case hardening, as a result of the
shortening of the processing times, the LPC provides
dimensional control, low distortion, and predictable and
repeatable dimensional control. It is known that the
removal of distortion occurring in the gears after the heat
treatments brings additional cost to the manufacturers, and
on the other hand, the tensile residual stresses occurring as
a result of distortion adversely affect the fatigue life of the
gears.
5 Conclusion
This study was carried out to investigate the effect of the
case-hardening treatments such as gas carburizing, gas
carburizing–double quenching, low-pressure carburizing
and plasma nitriding on surface characteristics, and dis-
tortion of helical toothed gears. The following outcomes
can be drawn from this study:
• The minimum effective case depth and minimum total
case depth values obtained as a result of the performed
treatments were satisfactory to provide adequate pitting
and bending strength.
• Compared to the gas carburizing, the LPC process
ensured the desired surface hardness and effective case
depth values within shorter processing times. There-
fore, LPC offerred energy savings.
• The white layer thickness and core hardness values
occurring as a result of the plasma-nitriding treatment
were in the desired ranges in both steel gears.
• The greatest dimensional increase after the case
hardening treatments occurred at the end of the gas-
carburizing process due to the long processing times at
high process temperatures.
• In order to ensure the desired minimum surface
roughness values, the surface roughness values
obtained as a result of performed case-hardening
treatments necessitated the finishing processes.
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