HEAT

TREATMENT
Hardening

HEAT TREATMENT
How
is
hardened?

steel

By surface engineering

By quenching

By tempering

By adding other metals

By carburising

Surface engineering only modifies the

surface and may not cause hardening
Tempering
is
carried
out
after
hardening to control the hardness and
improve the toughness
Adding other metals to iron is just
alloying
Carburising only increases the surface
carbon content, it still needs quenching
to harden it

HEAT TREATMENT
What is surface engineering?

Heat treatment in a
sealed quench furnace
Making components that
work
Hardening
and
tempering steel surfaces
Creating a surface and
core
with
better
properties
than
they
have alone
Changing the shape of
the surface

HEAT TREATMENT
Heat treatment is the oldest technique of
surface engineering and has been carried out almost
since mans first use of iron
The earliest published text books on case hardening
(i.e. hardening only the surface of a component) being
used to improve the quality of iron date back almost a
thousand years
These early techniques involved heating iron objects in
a container, surrounded by a mixture of carbon-bearing
materials such as animal skins, hooves, horn and fat,
then removing them and cooling them rapidly by
plunging them into a nearby stream
The picture shows a blacksmiths shop
from the Middle Ages

BACKGROUND- SURFACE
ENGG
Sometimes, even hardened steel is not good enough
for a particular application or use
Therefore, another of the major roles of heat
treatment is to modify the surface of steel
components, so that they are suitable for the
purpose for which they were designed or, that they
last longer when carrying out a particular job
This is called surface engineering
This view of the cross-section of
a component, magnified 100
times using a microscope,
shows the steel surface (at the
right) after case hardening

Surface engineering produces a different structure

on the surface of steel, which can be seen when a
component is cut and prepared in a laboratory

BACKGROUND- SURFACE
ENGG
Surface engineering by heat treatment requires the use of a high-temperature furnace to heat the
parts up, a controlled atmosphere to modify their surface carbon content and a tank of oil (or
water) in which they can be quenched
The majority of components subject to surface engineering by heat treatment are processed in
special controlled atmosphere furnaces

Sealed quench furnaces constitute the most common type of controlled atmosphere furnaces in
use in modern industrial enterprises

A sealed quench furnace is a furnace in which the heating chamber is attached to the cooling or
quenching chamber, both being enclosed so that the workload is always under the controlled
atmosphere and is never exposed to the air whilst at temperature
This means that components are clean and bright and not oxidised when they are removed from

BACKGROUND- SURFACE
ENGG
Surface Engineering involves the
use of heat
treatments, such as case hardening, to create a
surface structure and core or central structure
which together possess properties unachievable
in either the core or surface materials alone

Put simply, the engine, gearbox and many other

parts in this excavator would soon wear out if
they were not surface engineered by carburising
and hardening

A number of techniques by means of which the surface of metal components can be modified, including:
Heat treatments:
Carburising
Nitriding.
Cyaniding
Laser hardening
Induction hardening

Surface alloying treatments

Boriding
Siliconising

Coatings:
PVD (Physical Vapour Deposition)
Ceramic coating

 Nitriding
Which of these processes are carried Carburising
out at high temperatures?
Carbonitriding
Nitrocarburising
Tempering

Carburising and Carbonitriding are generally carried out at between 800C & 1000C

Nitriding and nitrocarburising are low temperature treatments, being carried out at
between 450C & 590C
Tempering is also a low temperature treatment, being carried out at between 150C &
650C

 The gases used

atmospheres are?

in

controlled

Toxic
Corrosive
Alloyed
Explosive
Flammable

Gases are generally not corrosive except in the presence of water

Only metals can be alloyed

CASE HARDENING
Low carbon steels cannot be hardened by heating due to the small amounts of carbon present.
Case hardening seeks to give a hard outer skin over a softer core on the metal.
The addition of carbon to the outer skin is known as carburising.

What was used in early case hardening?

Hooves
Animal skins
Oil quenching
Pack Carburizer #18
Urine

Oil quenching is a modern technique developed for alloy steels

Pack Carburizer is the modern version of the old blacksmiths
mixtures
Urine was actually used in medieval times to quench the parts. A
practice echoed today by the use of brine (salt water) as a
quenchant

CARBURISING
Process of enriching the surface depth of low carbon steel with high carbon . It is then hardned and called
case-hardened steel.
Combination of high hardness and high toughness and good impact strength is developed.
Base steel is low carbon (0.1-0,25% ), easily machinable and can be used to produce different shapes.
Carbon rich case develops has compressive stresses developed in it and good fatigue strength is imparted.

Theory :
Carburising is achieved by keeping carbon content low, usually 0.1-0.25% in contact with solid, liq
or gaseous atmosphere with high carbon activity in high temp of 850 -950 C but commonly b/w 900925 C.
It is carried to have carbon content of 0.6-1.10%.
High carbon content makes it brittle due to coarse cementite network.
Max content is controlled by carbon potential of the atm. Desired carbon content is lower than
solubility limit and carbon potential is controlled to achieve desired s/c carbon.
CARBON POTENTIAL of atmosphere is defined as the carbon content which a carbon steel foil
acquires when equilibrium conditions are met b/w carbon potential of carborising medium and
carbon content of the foil.
Carbon content of the carburised steel is normally same as that of the carbon potential of the
atmosphere.

MECHANISM of
CARBURISING

When low carbon steel at the austenizing temp is brought in intimate contact with carburising medium,
the atomic form of carbon is liberated by chemical reactions and in 2 steps carbursing occurs:
1. Absorption of C occurs (till it is equal to atm) at the s/c of steel. Max C content is attained in shorter
time and is then maintained for the rest of the carburising times.
2. Carbon of s/c diffuses inside the case. Depth of carburisation is dependent on diffusion of carbon from
s/c to the interior. Depth of carburisation is distance below the surface to a definite carbon content or the
total depth of penetration.
Depends on:
1. Time and temp of carburising
2. Carbon potential of atmosphere.
3. Composition of steel.
Harris equation relates total depth of carburisation with time and temp as

Where,
x= total case depth in mm.
t= time in hours.
= parameter is a function of temp

PACK CARBURISING
The component is packed surrounded by a carbon-rich compound and placed in the
furnace at 900 degrees.

Over a period of time carbon will diffuse into the surface of the metal.
The longer left in the furnace, the greater the depth of hard carbon skin. Grain refining
is necessary in order to prevent cracking.

PACK CARBURISING
Advantages:
Cheap and simple method, when few parts need to be carburised. Large parts can be carburised
only when temp is maintained uniform in large furnaces.
Capital investment is least compared to other methods.
No atm controlled f/c is required. Can be done in any workshop.

Disadvantages:
Carburising times are longer when bad heat conducting compounds are to be heated.
Difficult to control surface carbon and carbon gradient.
Difficult to control the case depth and uniformity (particularly light cases cannot be used
within close limits.
Handling carburising mixture and packing becomes a dirty and dusty job.
Difficult to use direct quenching in pack-carburising

GAS CARBURISING
When steel s/c is enriched with C by heating in a f/c having gaseous carburising atmosphere, it is called gas
carburising. It is very popular method of carburising.
Methane is generally used by L.P.G is also used.
Thus, methane with a carrier gas having composition (vol %)
N2 = 39.8%
CO= 20.7%
H2 = 38.7%
CH4 = 0.8%

Reactions:

CH4 + Fe

C (Fe) + 2H2

2 CO+ Fe

C (Fe) + CO2

CO + Fe+ H2 C (Fe) + H2O

Where, C (Fe) is carbon dissolved in autenite. CO2 and H2O content in carburising atm due to reactions.
Carbon potential of the atm . So CH4 must be added. Reactions then become.
CH4 + CO2
CH4 + H2O

2 CO + 2H2
CO
+ 3H2

CH4- Thus is the ultimate source of carbon in the gas carbursing

GAS CARBURISING
Advantages:

Gives uniform case depth.

s/c carbon content and case depth is controlled accurately.
Cleaner and efficient then pack-carburising.
Time of carburising is less.
Direct quenching reduces cost of heat treatment and productivity

Disadvantages:

Capital cost of furnaces and generators are high.

Trays and fixtures are expensive.
Skilled labour is required.
Toxic hazards and fire hazards are to be handled carefully.

A.

HEAT TREATMENT AFTER

TREATMENT
CASE
CORE
CARBURISING
Direct quench
Case unrefined. Excess carbide in Unrefined core but
solution. Austenite is retained.
Distortion is low to medium

hardened

B.

Normalize, heat above Ac3 Refined. Excess carbide in

of core and quench
solution. More austenite retained
in high alloy steels.

Refined. Maximum
core strength and
hardness.

C.

Normalize, heat b/w Ac3

and Ac1 and quench.

Refined. Excess carbide

dissolved.

Partially refined
core. Stronger and
tougher than D

D.

Normalize, reheat above

Ac1 and quench.

Refined. Excess carbide not

dissolved

Unrefined. Soft and

machinable

E.

Quench, reheat above Ac1

and quench.

Refined. Excess carbide little

dissolved. Austenite retained is
minimum

Low hardness, high

toughness,
machinable.

F.

Interrupted quench,
marquench.

Unrefined case. Carbides

dissolved. Austenite retained.
Distortion minimum

Fully hardened.

 Salt bath carburising. A molten salt bath (sodium cyanide, sodium carbonate and
sodium chloride) has the object immersed at 900 degrees for an hour giving a thin
carbon case when quenched.

Gas carburising. The object is placed in a sealed furnace with carbon monoxide
allowing for fine control of the process.

Nitriding. Nitrides are formed on a metal surface in a furnace with ammonia gas
circulating at 500 degrees over a long period of time (100 hours). It is used for
finished components.

NITRIDING

WHAT IS NITRIDING?

Case-hardening process of enriching solid surface with N2 in temp range 500-575 C

in atm of 15-30% dissociated NH3 for 48-96 hrs.

Alloy steels having elements like Al(1%), Cr(1.4%), Mo (0.25%),V,Ti are nitride.

Dissociation reaction as follows are:

NH3

3/2 H2 + N(atomic)

The atomic N2 formed diffuses inside & interacts with solute atoms of Al, Cr,
Mo forming fine-closely spaced uniform dispersed coherent alloy nitride
particles.

High surface hardness (of 1100 VPN) reasons are:

1. fine uniform dispersed particles acting as barriers to the motion of

dislocations (the MAJOR reason for high hardness)
2. High density of dislocatons of 10 10 cm-2 in the cold worked metal.
3. N2 atoms form Cottrell atmospheres to hardness.
NOTE: Since here hardening doesnt occur due to formation of martensite so
quenching operation is not done in this case to increase hardness after nitriding.

WHY NITRIDING IS DONE?

FOR OBVIOUS REASONS AS IT PROVIDES SOME OF THE ADVANTAGES
To obtain the following high level properties:
1. High surface hardness
2. High wear resistance
3. Good antigalling properties
note: Hardness obtained is around 62-71 HRC. A higher value obtained than casehardening.
. Addition of N2 increases vol of the case which build compressive stresses on the
surface and fatigue properties.
. To corrosion resistance in atm of water, steam etc.
. To develop good high temp properties in nitriding temp of 550 C, case restaining hardness in those
temp.
. No danger of crack or distortion as no quenching o/p is done.
However, it has some fallacies as:
1. Requires long time (48-96 hrs) to develop small case depth (say about 1 mm). Glow discharge nitriding
corrects this flaw by reducing the nitriding time to half.
2. NH3 gas used is expensive.
3. Alloy steels used are expensive.

MECHANISM OF NITRIDING
It is studied from iron-carbon system.
Some of the conditions of formation of various phases and forms of nitrides.
At normal nitriding temperatures (< 590 C) N2 dissolves upto 0.1% in -iron.
As N2 , a stable phase at the temperature -nitride forms. This -nitride (Fe4N) is a solid solution.
On N2 >6% -nitride (Fe2-3 N) forms.
If nitriding temperature is <500 C, at 11% N, then -nitride (Fe2N) forms.
Temperatures are generally higher.
So from the surface to the core we get the following phases
core (original structure).
As cooling takes place after
nitriding, surplus precipitates from
and phases. This is shown from
the diagram aside. The structure
at room temperature will be as:
+ + core

MECHANISM OF NITRIDING

In absence of alloying elements the phases , brittle and not so hard, shown in
previous slide, form.
Alloying elements hardness because of nitride formations (AlN, TiN, VN, CrN, Mo2N).
This hardness is again controlled by: size, distribution, volume fraction of nitrides.
Volume fraction controlled by amount of alloying elements.
Size kept small: low nitriding temperatures (500-575 C).
Low nitriding temp helps as then ONLY INTERSTITIAL N2 diffuses to interact with alloying
elements.
Nitriding temp : When low the fine precipitates and high hardness
When High the low hardness and greator case depth.

WHITE LAYER
Nitrided case contains a surface compound layer called
WHITE LAYER because of its appearance under a
microscope.
Consists of and phases along with alloying elements.
Called dual phase layer as both phases exist throughout the layer.
Upto 0.05mm, it may form and is brittle so it chips during service
conditions, reducing the fatigue life of the component.
Not harmful if < 0.01mm, but removal of it can be done by grinding or
putting it in hot alkaline solution.
It has some advantages like it gives lubricity and corrosion resistance in
many atmospheres due to its inert nature.

OPERATIONS BEFORE
NITRIDING

Some of the common operations are done:

1. Hardening and Tempering ( this strength and toughness of core. Tempering temp is kept
30 C higher than nitriding temp i.e. 600-675 C).
2. Final Machining (final size of component got with a tolerance of 0.03-0.05 mm for growth during
nitriding)
3. Selective Nitriding (areas not to be nitride are given a coating of tin of 0.01-0.015 mm)
4. Nitriding is then done, followed by finish lapping.

LASER
HARDENING

LASER HARDENING
Laser beams are invisible electromagnetic radiations in IR potion of spectrum.
Used increasingly for surface-hardening of ferrous materials operation.
They wear resistance and fatigue resistance.

When laser radiations impinge on s/c, their absorption gives energy, which gets conducted inside.
Austenizing temp is attained rapidly. As laser beam passes over, heated volume gets self-quenched.
Case depth is controlled by choosing power density of laser beams, speed of laser spot.
Hardening response of ferrous material also effects the case-depth (depth being not more than
2.5mm).

This is similar to other s/c hardening operations but here laser beam is used to generate the heat.
Since, heating time to austenizing temp is short, dwell time can not be made large as surface melting
may take place.
As heating rate is high, Ac3 is raised high, austenization rate is high, but time given is too short..
1<<2 this value is kept which doubles the austenization time and obtains better diffusion of
carbon, forming HOMOGENEOUS STRUCTURE.
Self quenching may not be enough so quenching may be essential from outside.

ADVANTAGES
Mild steels can be hardened.
Hardness obtained is > conventional hardnening.
Beams can reach re-entrant surfaces.
No vacuum, protective atmosphere is needed.
Hardening can be done from a distance.
Many jobs can be done simultaneously.
Complete automation becomes possible.
Time of hardening is less.
High productivity and less distortion

DISADVANTAGES
Initial cost of lasers is very high.
10% of energy used by lasers (proves that its inefficient)
Case-depth is small.
Working cost is high.
Alloy steels are difficult to be hardened.
Extra care required to avoid fusion

INDUCTION
HARDENING

INDUCTION HARDENING
When heating a s/c of an electrically conducting material by means of induction heating, it
is known as Induction Hardening.
Its principle is:

Induced eddy currents heat the surface of the

steel very quickly and is quickly followed by jets
of water to quench the component.

A hard outer layer is created with a soft core. The

slideways on a lathe are induction hardened.

Metallurgical factors
Since rate of heating is so Ac1 and Ac3 temp are raised, austenite forms soon.
Original microstructure should be fine to obtain homogeneous austenite.
Original steel should be in hardened, tempered (sorbitic structure), normalised state to
austenize the steel in such short period of time.
Alloy steels having carbide forming elements respond poorly to induction
hardening as carbides dont dissolve in such small times.
Fine sorbitic structure is preferred.

Steels for Induction hardening

Applied to hardenable steels (0.3-0.5% C), providing reasonable toughness to the core.
Medium carbon steels for automobile drive shafts, gears etc.
High carbon steels for hand tools, drills, rock bits.
Alloy steels for automobile valves and bearings etc.

METHODS OF INDUCTION
HARDENING

There are 2 methods:

1. Single-shot hardening.
2. Progressive hardening.

1. Single-shot hardening: Suited for hardening small

parts (head of a bolt). Desired area is heated in one step,
quenched by dropping in a bath, or by spray-quencher or
in induction coil itself.

2. Progessive Hardening: Used for hardening long

components. The component rotates, moves forward at
a certain velocity in the coil, gets heated upto required
depth, then moves in quenching front and quenching
spray done progressively during the motion.

ADVANTAGES
Selective localised hardening is done without effecting the core and its properties.
Quick process for mass production, fully automated for similar parts.
Operating cost/ part is less.
Cheaper steels can be made to develop good properties.
No s/c decarburisation and oxidation take place.
Case depth is controlled properly.
Fine martensite formed so hardness obtained.
fatigue strength obtained.
Process can be incorporated in production line

CYANIDING

WHAT IS CYANIDING?
It is a case-hardening process. Both C and N are added to the s/c layers of steel.
Done by dipping steel in liq cyanide bath at 800-900 C (specially small parts having C % b/w 0.20.4
It aims at:
1. Hardness
2. Wear resistance.
3. corrosion resistance.
4. Fatigue strength.

Composition of bath is:

NACN= 20-25% (30%)
NACl=25-50% (30%)
Na2CO3= 25-50% (40%)

Chemical reactions are:

2 NACN+O2 2 NaNCO
4 NaNCO Na2CO3 + 2 NaCN + CO+ 2N
2 NaNCO+O2 Na2CO3 + 3 CO + 2 N
2 Co CO2 + C(Fe)

CYANIDING
Cyaniding gives
1. High N2 content (0.8-1.2%).
2. Low C content (0.6-0.7%)

Process:
Neutral baths are melted, then req amt of NACN added. Temp is raised to specific case-hardening temp.
Clean and pre-heated baths (200-500 C) are immersed in cyanide bath and kept for 10-90 mins as case
depth is required.
Since cyaniding temp is low, parts distortion is less during quenching.
High temp gives greator case depth, more carbon enriched than nitrogen.
After cyaniding carbon parts are tempered at 180-200 C. Hardness of 58- 62 HRC results.
High N2 content , gives better wear resistance and endurance limit

Disadvantages:

Expensive.
Salts used are toxic, good precautions need to be taken.
Disposal of cyanide wastes becomes a problem.
Difficult to maintain constant temp due to dissociation of cyanide.