Carbon Monoxide Gas Carburization Behavior of Molybdenum Materials

For pure Molybdenum carburized in mixed gases of argon and carbon monoxide, microstructural observations were carried out. X-ray diffraction analysis for carburized specimens revealed that brittle ${\alpha}-Mo_2C$- layer hardly formed in the case of low carbon monoxide concentration. Fracture strength of the specimen carburized at 1673 K for 16 h is about 550 MPa higher than that of the un-carburized specimen. SEM observation revealed that with increasing carburizing temperature, the region demonstrating a transgranular fracture mode progressed towards the center of specimen. This result means that the grain boundaries were strengthened by the grain boundary diffusion of carbon and the strength of grain boundaries exceeded that of grain itself.