Surface Hardening of Steels

Abstract:
Surface hardening a process which includes a wide variety of techniques is used to improve the wear resistance
of parts without affecting the softer, tough interior of the part. This combination of hard surface and resistance
and breakage upon impact is useful in parts such as a cam or ring gear that must have a very hard surface to
resist wear, along with a tough interior to resist the impact that occurs during operation. Further, the surface
hardening of steels has an advantage over through hardening because less expensive low-carbon and medium-
carbon steels can be surface hardened without the problems of distortion and cracking associated with the
through hardening of thick sections.
Surface hardening a process which includes a wide variety of techniques is used to
improve the wear resistance of parts without affecting the softer, tough interior of the
part. This combination of hard surface and resistance and breakage upon impact is useful
in parts such as a cam or ring gear that must have a very hard surface to resist wear,
along with a tough interior to resist the impact that occurs during operation. Further, the
surface hardening of steels has an advantage over through hardening because less
expensive low-carbon and medium-carbon steels can be surface hardened without the
problems of distortion and cracking associated with the through hardening of thick
sections.
There are two distinctly different approaches to the various methods for surface
hardening Table !"# methods that involve an intentional buildup or addition of a new
layer and methods that involve surface and subsurface modification without any
intentional buildup or increase in part dimensions.
Table !. $ngineering methods for surface hardening of steels.
Layer additions Substrate treatment
Hardfacing
Fusion harcifacing
Thermal spray
Coatings
$lectrochemical plating
%hemical vapor deposition electroless
plating"
Thin films physical vapor deposition,
puttering, ion plating"
&on mixing
Diffusion methods
%arburi'ing
(itriding
%arbonitriding
(itrocarburi'ing
)oriding
Titanium-carbon diffusion
Toyota diffusion process
Selective hardening
methods
Flame hardening
&nduction hardening
*aser hardening
$lectron beam hardening
&on implantation
Selective carburi'ing and
nitriding
+se of arc lamps
The first group of surface hardening methods includes the use of thin films, coatings, or
weld overlays hard-facings". Films, coatings, and overlays generally become less cost
1
effective as production quantities increase, especially when the entire surface of work
pieces must be hardened.
The fatigue performance of films, coatings, and overlays may also be a limiting factor,
depending on the bond strength between the substrate and the added layer. Fusion-
welded overlays have strong bonds, but the primary surface-hardened steels used in
wear applications with fatigue loads include heavy case-hardened steels and flame or
induction-hardened steels. (onetheless, coatings and overlays can be effective in some
applications. For tool steels, for example, Ti( and ,l-./ coatings are effective not only
because of their hardness but also because their chemical inertness reduces wear and
the welding of chips to the tool. .verlays can be effective when the selective hardening
of large areas is required.
The second group of methods on surface hardening is further divided into diffusion
methods and selective hardening methods. 0iffusion methods modify the chemical
composition of the surface with hardening species such as carbon, nitrogen, or boron.
0iffusion methods allow effective hardening of the entire surface of a part and are
generally used when a large number of parts are to be surface hardened. &n contrast,
selective surface hardening methods allow locali'ed hardening. Selective hardening
generally involves transformation hardening from heating and quenching", but some
selective hardening methods selective nitriding, ion implantation and ion beam mixing"
are based solely on compositional modification.
,s previously mentioned, surface hardening by diffusion involves the chemical
modification of a surface. The basic process used is thermo-chemical because some heat
is needed to enhance the diffusion of hardening species into the surface and subsurface
regions of part.
The depth of diffusion exhibits time-temperature dependence such that#
%ase depth 1 Time
where the diffusivity constant, K, depends on temperature, the chemical composition of
the steel, and the concentration gradient of a given hardening species. &n terms of
temperature, the diffusivity constant increases exponentially as a function of absolute
temperature. %oncentration gradients depend on the surface kinetics and reactions of a
particular process.
2ethods of hardening by diffusion include several variations of hardening species such
as carbon, nitrogen, or boron" and of the process method used to handle and transport
the hardening species to the surface of the part. 3rocess methods for exposure involve
the handling of hardening species in forms such as gas, liquid, or ions. These process
variations naturally produce differences in typical case depth and hardness Table -".
Factors influencing the suitability of a particular diffusion method include the type of steel
Table /".
&t is also important to distinguish between total case depth and effective case depth. The
effective case depth is typically about two-thirds to three-fourths the total case depth.
The required effective depth must be specified so that the heat treatment can process
the parts for the correct time at the proper temperature.

Table -# Typical characteristics of diffusion treatments
2
Process
Nature of
case
Process
temperature
!C"
#ypical
case
depth
Case
hardness
H$C"
#ypical
base metals
%arburi'ing
3ack
0iffused
carbon
4!5-!676
!-58m-
!.5mm
56-9/:
*ow-carbon
steels, low-
carbon alloy
steels
;as
0iffused
carbon
4!5-746
<5 8m-
!.5mm
56-9/:
*ow-carbon
steels, low-
carbon alloy
steels
*iquid
0iffused
carbon and
possibly
nitrogen
4!5-746
56 8m-
!.5mm
56-95:
*ow-carbon
steels, low-
carbon alloy
steels
=acuum
0iffused
carbon
4!5-!676
<5 8m-
!.5mm
56-9/:
*ow-carbon
steels, low-
carbon alloy
steels
(itriding ;as
0iffused
nitrogen,
nitrogen
compounds
>46-576
!-8m-
6.<5mm
56-<6
,lloy steels,
nitriding
steels,
stainless
steels
Salt
0iffused
nitrogen,
nitrogen
compounds
5!6-595
-.58m-
6.<5mm
56-<6
2ost ferrous
metals.
&ncluding
cast irons
&on
0iffused
nitrogen.
nitrogen
compounds
/>6-595
<58m-
6.<5mm
56-<6
,lloy steels,
nitriding
steels,
stainless
steels
%arbonitriding
;as
0iffused
carbon and
nitrogen
<96-4<6
<58m-
6.<5mm
56-95:
*ow-carbon
steels, low-
carbon alloy
steels,
stainless
steels
*iquid
cyaniding"
0iffused
carbon and
nitrogen
<96-4<6
-.5-
!-58m
56-95:
*ow-carbon
steels
Ferritic
nitrocarburi'ing
0iffused
carbon and
nitrogen
595-9<5
-.5-
-58m
>6-96:
*ow-carbon
steels
.ther
,lumini'ing
pack"
0iffused
aluminum
4<6-746
-58m-
!mm
? -6
*ow-carbon
steels
Siliconi'ing by 0iffused 7-5-!6>6 -58m- /6-56 *ow-carbon
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chemical vapor
deposition
silicon !mm steels
%hromi'ing by
chemical vapor
deposition
0iffused
chromium
746-!676
-5-
568m
*ow-
carbon
steel ?
/6@ Aigh-
carbon
56-96
Aigh- and
low carbon
steels
Titanium
%arbide
0iffused
carbon and
titanium,
Ti%
compound
766-!6!6
-,5-
!-.58m
B <6:
,lloy steels,
tool steels
)oriding
0iffused
boron.
boron
compounds
>66-!!56
!-,5-
568m
>6- B <6
,lloy steels,
tool
steels,%obalt
and nickel
alloys
: Cequires quench from austeniti'ing temperature.
Table /. Types of steels used for various diffusion processes
Diffusion substrates
Lo%&carbon steels
Alloy
steels
#ool steels Stainless steels
%arburi'ing
%yaniding
Ferritic
nitrocarburi'ing
%arbonitriding
(itriding
&on nitriding
Titanium
carbide
)oriding
Salt nitriding
&on nitriding
;as nitriding
;as nitriding
Titanium carbide
&on nitriding
Ferritic
nitrocarburi'ing
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