Heat Treatment

Chapter – 5
Case, Surface and Special
hardening treatment of steels
 Contents
i. Introduction

ii. Case hardening treatments 1. Introduction

2. Carburizing
3. Cyaniding
4. Nitriding
5. Carbo-nitriding

iii. Surface hardening treatments 1. Flame hardening

2. Induction hardening

1. Laser hardening
iv. Special hardening treatments
2. Electron beam hardening

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 Introduction

• Case hardening or surface hardening is the process of hardening

the surface of a metal, thus forming a thin layer of harder metal
(called the "case") at the surface.
• Case hardening is usually done after the part has been formed into its
final shape.
• Case hardening can provide a part that will not fracture (because of
the soft core that can absorb stresses without cracking) but also
provides adequate wear resistance on the surface.

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 Introduction
• Case hardening is a simple method of hardening steel. It is less
complex than hardening and tempering.
• This techniques is used for steels with a low carbon content.
• Carbon is added to the outer surface of the steel, to a depth of
approximately 0.03mm or from a few tenths of a millimetre to a few
millimeters. .
• One advantage of this method of hardening steel is that the inner
core is left untouched and so still processes properties such as
flexibility and is still relatively soft.

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 Introduction

• Case or surface hardening is usually done for the following reasons:

o To improve wear resistance
o To improve resistance to high contact stresses
o To improve fracture toughness
o To improve fatigue resistance, and, sometimes,
o To improve corrosion resistance

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 Introduction
• Components that usually require surface hardening include:
o gears - bearings - valves
o cams - hand tools - rolls
o shafts - machine tools - bearing races

• Surface hardening techniques can be classified into two major

categories:
1. Processes that change the surface chemical composition (case hardening
or thermochemical processes)
2. Processes that do not change the surface chemical composition (selective
surface hardening or local thermal surface hardening)

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Introduction

7
 Case hardening treatments

Case Hardened Gear Tooth

Microstructure Through Carburized Surface

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 Carburizing
• Carburizing is a hardening process in which carbon is introduced into the
surface layer of the steel
1. The steel is heated in contact with a substance that has a high
carbon content
2. The steel is held at a temperature above the UCT (850 –950 oC)
for a suitable period of time
3. Then quenched rapidly to produce a hardened surface layer or
“case” over a softer and tougher core
4. The steel is then tempered to the desired hardness

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 Carburizing

• Carburizing is done on low C steel (< 0.25 %)

• The carburizing time varies between 4 – 70 hours
o The length to time the steel is left in the furnace determines the depth of
carburizing
o Case depths ranging from 0.08 mm - 6.4 mm may be specified, depending on
the service requirements of the product
• The carburizing process does not harden the steel, it only increases
the carbon content to a desired depth below the surface

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 1. Pack Carburizing
• In pack carburizing, the steel piece
is packed in a steel container and
completely surrounded with
charcoal
• The charcoal is treated within
Ba/Ca(CO3), (Catalyst) which
promotes the formation of CO &
CO2.
• CO reacts with the low carbon steel
surface to form atomic (nascent) C,
• Carburizing time: 4 – 10 hours
which diffuses into the steel
• Carburizing depth: no limit (< 1.3
• Quenching is difficult in pack mm)
carburizing. Usually the part is
allowed to cool slowly and then
hardened and tempered
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 1. Pack Carburizing
Advantages. Among the principal advantages of pack carburizing are:
• It can make use of a wide variety of furnaces because it produces
its own contained environment
• It is ideally suited for slow cooling of work from the carburizing
temperature, a procedure that may be advantageous for parts that
are to be finish machined after carburizing and before hardening
• Compared to gas carburizing, it offers a wider selection of stop-off
techniques for selective carburizing

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 1. Pack Carburizing
Disadvantages. By its nature, pack carburizing is less clean and less convenient
than other carburizing processes.
• Other disadvantages generally associated with pack carburizing include:
o It is not well suited to production of shallow case depths where strict case-
depth tolerances are required
o It cannot provide the degree of flexibility and accuracy of control over
surface carbon content and carbon gradient that can be obtained in gas
carburizing
o It is not well suited for direct quenching or quenching in dies; thus, extra
handling and processing are required for the hardening operation
o More processing time is required for pack carburizing than for gas or liquid
carburizing because of the necessity of heating and cooling the extra thermal
mass associated with the compound and the container
o It is labor intensive

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 2. Gas Carburizing
• In gas carburizing, commercially the most important variant of
carburizing, the source of carbon is a carbon-rich furnace atmosphere
produced either from gaseous hydrocarbons,
• for example, methane (CH4), propane (C3H3), and butane (C4H10), or from
vaporized hydro-carbon liquids.at around 930 oC
• The advantage of gas carburizing is that the steel can be quenched
directly from the carburizing temperature
• The successful operation of the gas carburizing process depends on
the control of three principal variables:
o Temperature
o Time
o Atmosphere composition
Temperature. The maximum rate at which carbon can be added to steel is limited by
the rate of diffusion of carbon in austenite.
This diffusion rate increases greatly with increasing temperature; the rate of carbon
addition at 925 °C (1700 °F) is about 40% greater than at 870 °C (1600 °F).
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2. Gas Carburizing
• Time. The effect of time
and temperature on total
case depth is shown in the
Fig. 1
• The data given, originally
published by Harris (Ref 3)
in 1944, are computed • Fig. 1
assuming saturated
austenite at the surface of
the workpiece.

• Fig. 2 shows how the carburizing

time decreases with increasing
carburizing temperature for a case Fig. 2
depth of 1.5 mm (0.06 in.).

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 3. Liquid Carburizing
• Carburizing is done in liquid salts, which contain cyanide
compounds such as NaCN
• Shorter carburizing time compared to pack and gas carburizing
• Environmental hazards of the salts used

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 Assignments
1. Temperature
2. Time
Assignment 1: Effect of On gas carburizing
3. Furnace atmospheric composition
4. Carbon potential
5. Carbon diffusion
6. Alloy content

1. Principle of operation / process

2. Controlling parameters
Assignment 2: Liquid Carburizing 3. Relation ship with Cyaniding
4. Applications
5. Advantages
6. Limitations
7. Conclusions

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 Cyaniding
• In cyaniding carbon and nitrogen are introduced into the surface of
steel by heating it to a suitable temp. and holding it in contact with
molten cyanide to form a thin skin which is subsequently quenched
• Bath consists of ;
• 30% NaCN, 40%Na2CO3, 30%NaCl

Characteristics
• Case depth is about 0.25mm
• Negligible change in dimension
• Distortion may occur
Typical uses
• Screws
• Nuts and bolts
• Small gears

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 Cyaniding
• Fast and efficient.
• Preheated steel is dipped into a heated cyanide bath and allowed to
soak.
• Upon removal, it is quenched and then rinsed to remove any residual
cyanide.
• This process produces a thin, hard shell that is harder than the one
produced by carburizing (completed in 20 to 30 minutes)
• Cyanide salts are a deadly poison.

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 Nitriding
• Another process by which a case of hardened steel can be achieved.
• In nitriding, the steel piece is heated in a furnace between 500 – 600
oC and at the same time is exposed to ammonia gas (NH )
3
• The heat from the furnace causes the ammonia to decompose into
hydrogen (H2) and nitrogen (N2)
• Nitrogen reacts with elements in the steel to form nitrides in the outer
layer of the steel providing high hardness and wear resistance
• Nitriding times range between 1–100 hours depending on steel
composition and depth of hardening desired
• Since nitriding does not involve austenitizing the steel and subsequent
quenching to form martensite, it can be carried out at comparatively
low temperatures and thus produce less distortion and deformation

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Nitriding

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 Nitriding
• Principle
• Steel is exposed to nitrogenous atmosphere.
NH3 = N + 3H (at 525 - 550°C)
• The nascent nitrogen reacts with various alloying elements in the steel
(e.g. Al, Mo, Cr etc.) to form nitrides
• The nitride layer formed on the surface is very hard
• No quenching is done

Characteristics
• Case depth is about 0.381mm
• Extreme hardness
• Case has improved corrosion
resistance
• Since nitrided parts are not
quenched so less cracks
• Good fatigue resistance
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 Nitriding
• Plus points:
• No quenching needed, so cracking /distortion least.
• High surface hardness of 1150 H obtained
• Resistance to fatigue failure good
• Resistance to corrosion good, (on unpolished surface)
• Hardness retained at 5000C ( in carburizing falls near 2000C)
• Economical for large no. of components
• Clean process, (cyaniding with water rinsing environmentally not
good)
• Minus points:
• Initial outlay higher than for case hardening
• Overheating removes hardness completely.

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 Carbo-nitriding
• This process involves both the diffusion of C and N into the steel
surface
• Nitriding is performed in a gas atmosphere furnace using a
carburizing gas such as propane or methane (source of C) mixed with
several vol% of ammonia (NH3) (source of N)
• Carbo-nitriding is performed at temperatures above the UCT (700 –
800 0C)
• Quenching is done in a gas which is not as severe as water quench (the
result is less distortion on the material to be treated).

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Carbo-nitriding

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 Selective Surface hardening treatments
• These processes are also called localized heat treatment because only
the surface is austenitized and quenched to produce martensite
• The basic requirement for these processes is that the steel must have
sufficient carbon and hardenability to achieve the required hardness
at the surface (medium carbon steels are usually suited for these
processes)
• Selective surface hardening are classified according to the heating
source into:
1. Flame hardening
2. Induction hardening
3. Laser hardening
4. Electron-beam heat-treating

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 Selective Surface hardening treatments
• Selective hardening is applied because of one or more of the
following reasons:
1. Parts to be heat-treated are so large as to make conventional
furnace heating and quenching impractical and uneconomical -
examples are large gears, large rolls, and dies
2. Only a small segment, section, or area of the part needs to be
heat treated.
• Typical examples are ends of valve stems and push rods, and
the wearing surfaces of cams and levers
3. Better dimensional accuracy of a heat-treated part
4. Overall cost savings by using inexpensive steels to have the
wear properties of alloyed steels.

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 Flame hardening
• Heating the surface being hardened above the upper critical
temperature with an oxy acetylene flame before quenching it in a
spray of water.
• This is a surface hardening process resulting in a hard surface layer of
about 2mm to 6mm deep.
• The main difference between this process and other surface
hardening processes is that the composition of the steel being
hardened is not changed.

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 Flame hardening
• The steel must itself have sufficient hardenability .
• Limits this process to steels having carbon contents of above 0.35%.
• Steels with carbon contents of 0.4%-0.7% are most suitable for this
process.
• Steels with higher C content and high alloy steels may not be suitable
as they a liable to cracking.
• Result similar to the conventional hardening process but with less
hardness penetration

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 Flame hardening
Process: Advantages
• Heated to g region with • No scaling effect.
‘oxyacetylene’ flame. • Cheap and portable.
• Quenching. Disadvantages
• Thin surface hardening. • Overheating’ can damage
• Thickness control by components.
temp. and time.

Applications
• Crankshafts.
• Gears.
• Automotive components which require high core strength.

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 Induction hardening
• Surface to be hardened is heated using inductive heating.
• Depth of hardness can be closely monitored by controlling current.
• Time required for the process is less.
• Used for producing hard surfaces on crankshafts, axles, gears etc.

Advantages
Process: • No scaling effect.
• Induced current. • Reduce distortion.
• Metal will be surrounded in a • Consistent surface texture.
quickly changing magnetic Disadvantages:
field. • High cost
• Heating temperature: 750OC Applications
– 850OC • Crankshafts.
• Quench in water • Gears.
• Automotive components which
require high core strength.
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Induction hardening

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 Assignments

1. Principle of operation / process

2. Controlling parameters
1. Laser hardening
3. Relation ship with each other
Assignment 3&4: 2. Electron-beam heat-
4. Applications
treating 5. Advantages
6. Limitations
7. Conclusions

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 How to select the right surface hardening method

• Carburizing is the best method for low carbon steel

• Nitriding is a lower distortion process than carburizing but it can be
used for certain type of steel such as chromium molybdenum alloy
steel
• Flame hardening is preferred for heavy cases or selective hardening
of large machine components.
• Induction hardening works best on parts small enough and suitable
in shape to be compatible with the induction coil
• Electron beam and laser hardening are limited to the low alloy steels
and plain carbon steels

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 Time required for case hardening treatment
 The time required for case hardening treatment, also known as the
case hardening cycle time, is derived based on several factors that
influence the process.;
• Desired Hardness Depth
• Material Type and Composition
• Case Hardening Method
• Temperature and Atmosphere
• Component Size and Geometry
• Equipment and Process Control
 The time required for case hardening can be calculated using the
formula: This Equation is called Fick's
𝑋2 Second Law of Diffusion describes
𝑡= the diffusion of atoms in a solid.
2𝐷
• t is time, X is the desired case depth and D is the diffusion
coefficient
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Table: Typical characteristics of diffusion treatments

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Table: Typical characteristics of diffusion treatments

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Thank you.
Questions ?

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