• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.12-19
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• 1999

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.60-65
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• 2011

A low temperature plasma carburizing process was performed on AISI 316L austenitic stainless steel to achieve an enhancement of the surface hardness without degradation of its corrosion resistance. Attempts were made to investigate the influence of the processing temperatures on the surface hardened layer during low temperature plasma carburizing in order to obtain the optimum processing conditions. The expanded austenite (${\gamma}_c$) phase, which contains a high saturation of carbon (S phase), was formed on all of the treated surfaces. Precipitates of chromium carbides were detected in the hardened layer (C-enriched layer) only for the specimen treated at $550^{\circ}C$. The hardened layer thickness of ${\gamma}_c$ increased up to about $65{\mu}m$ with increasing treatment temperature. The surface hardness reached about 900 $HK_{0.05}$, which is about 4 times higher than that of the untreated sample (250 $HK_{0.05}$). A minor loss in corrosion resistance was observed for the specimens treated at temperatures of $300^{\circ}C{\sim}450^{\circ}C$ compared with untreated austenitic stainless steel. In particular, the precipitation of chromium carbides at $550^{\circ}C$ led to a significant decrease in the corrosion resistance. A diamond-like carbon (DLC) film coating was applied to improve the wear and friction properties of the S phase layer. The DLC film showed a low and stable friction coefficient value of about 0.1 compared with that of the carburized surface (about 0.45). The hardness and corrosion resistance of the S phase layer were further improved by the application of such a DLC film.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.10 no.7
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• pp.505-514
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• 2000

The carburizing behavior and fatigue properties of the plasma carburized low carbon Cr-Mo steel(0.176C-1.014Cr-0.387Mo) have been investigated. The effective case depth in plasma carburized steel increased up to 50% in comparison with that of gas carburizing, and this case depth increased with the increasing surface carbon content. With increasing time in plasma carburizing, the surface carbon content increased but its increasing rate decreased. Fatigue properties were studied in terms of microstructure, case depth, retained austenite and residual stress near the surface. The fatigue limit of the plasma carburized steel was higher than that of gas carburized one. The initiation of microcracks and initial crack propagation were retarded due to a relatively little surface and internal oxidation layer in plasma carburized steel. Fractography showed the crack initiated at the surface, and transgranular fracture at surface layer was more predominant in plasma carburized steel compared to that of gas carburized steel.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.116-121
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• 2009

The 2-step low temperature plasma processes (the combined carburizing and post-nitriding) offer the increase of both surface hardness and thickness of hardened layer and corrosion resistance than the individually processed low temperature nitriding and low temperature carburizing techniques. The 2-step low temperature plasma processes were carried out for improving both the surface hardness and corrosion resistance of AISI 316L stainless steel. The influence of gas compositions on the surface properties during nitriding step were investigated. The expanded austenite (${\gamma}_N$) was formed on all of the treated surface. The thickness of ${\gamma}_N$ and concentration of N on the surface increased with increasing both nitrogen gas and Ar gas levels in the atmosphere. The thickness of ${\gamma}_N$ increased up to about $20{\mu}m$ and the thickness of entire hardened layer was determined to be about $40{\mu}m$. The surface hardness was independent of nitrogen and Ar gas contents and reached up to about 1200 $HV_{0.1}$ which is about 5 times higher than that of untreated sample (250 $HV_{0.1}$). The corrosion resistance in 2-step low temperature plasma processed austenitic stainless steels was also much enhanced than that in the untreated austenitic stainless steels due to a high concentration of N on the surface.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.8 no.8
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• pp.707-713
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• 1998

The influence of plasma carburizing process on the surface hardness of SCM415 low-alloy steel (0.15% C) was investigated under the various process conditions of gas composition. gas pressure, plasma current density. temperature and time. The effective case depth was found to depend on the amount of methan gas containing carbon. thus the deepest case depth and the uniform hardeness were obtained with the 100% methan gas. The case depth increased with the plasma current density. The effective plasma carburizing temperature of SCM415 steel was found to be higher than 85$0^{\circ}C$, and the case depth was proportional to the square root of carburizing time under the same current density. The bending fatigue strength of the plasma carburized specimen is' higher than those of as- received specimen or reheat-quenched specimen.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.219-225
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• 2022

An alternative fabrication method for carburizing steel using spark plasma sintering (SPS) is investigated. The sintered carburized sample, which exhibits surface modification effects such as carburizing, sintered Fe, and sintered Fe-0.8 wt.%C alloys, is fabricated using SPS. X-ray diffraction and micro Vickers tests are employed to confirm the phase and properties. Finite element analysis is performed to evaluate the change in hardness and analyze the carbon content and residual stress of the carburized sample. The change in the hardness of the carburized sample has the same tendency to predict hardness. The difference in hardness between the carburized sample and the predicted value is also discussed. The carburized sample exhibits a compressive residual stress at the surface. These results indicate that the carburized sample experiences a surface modification effect without carburization. Field emission scanning electron microscopy is employed to verify the change in phase. A novel fabrication method for altering the carburization is successfully proposed. We expect this fabrication method to solve the problems associated with carburization.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.402-411
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• 2023

In order to examine the effect of cementite precipitated on the steel surface on the carburizing rate, the carburizing process was carried out at various boost times to measure the mass gain and carbon flux, phase analysis and carbon concentration analysis were performed on the surface of the carburized specimen. In the case of the only boost type, the longer the boost time, the more the mass gain by the diffused carbon follows the parabolic law and tends to increase. In particular, as the boost time increased, the depth of cementite precipitation and the average size of cementite on the steel surface increased. At a boost time of 7 min, the fraction of cementite precipitated on the surface is 7.32 vol.%, and the carburizing rate of carbon into the surface (surface-carbon flux) is about 17.4% compared to the calculated value because the area of the chemical (catalyst) where the carburization reaction takes place is reduced. The measured carbon concentration profile of the carburized specimen tended to be generally lower than the carbon concentration calculated by the model without considering precipitated cementite. On the other hand, in the pulse type, the mass gain by the diffused carbon increased according to the boost time following a linear law. At a boost time of 7 min, the fraction of cementite precipitated on the surface was 3.62 vol.%, and the surface-carbon flux decreased by about 4.1% compared to the calculated value. As a result, a model for predicting the actual carbon flux was presented by applying the carburization resistace coefficient derived from the surface cementite fraction as a variable.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.67-72
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• 2011

The main objective of this paper is obtaining the optimal carburizing hours which impacts geometric tolerances, OPD(Over Pin Diameter), runout, hardness and fatigure strength of SCM415 spur gear. In order to observe the deformation of the gear, the circularity, squareness, OPD(Over Pin Diameter) and runout were measured at 3hour, 4hour and 5hour respectively. As the result, the 3hour situation is the best, which very similar with the 4hour one. Afterwards, with the purpose of getting the result of gear hardness, the surface hardness, maximum hardness and interior hardness were measured. The result is 5h situation is the best, and it's similar with 4hour one. At last, the fatigue tests have been done which receive the result that the 4h situation showed 9~12% fatigue strength improvement compared with the 3h and 5h ones. To sum up the results, the 4hour situation shows the best performance in accuracy, hardness and fatigue strength.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.104-110
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• 1998

In automotive industries, various processes for the cost reduction have been investigated lively. As one of them, powder metallurgy becomes influential. Compared to other methods used for he manufacture of steel components the Powder metallurgy process is competitive primarily due to the small number of production steps to reach the final geometry and thereby also the energy-efficiency. In this paper, to alter present forging process into powder metallurgy process by which the automotive clutch disc spline hub is manufactured machining process, the mechanical properties of sintered materials is investigated by specimen test. Selecting the 3 kinds of materials-SMF 4040, SMF 9060 and DHP-1, their properties according to heat treatment such as carburizing -tempering and plasma-nitrodizing are compared. By result of specimen test - tensile test, compression ring test, Impacting test, measurment of hardness, and microstructure analysis - we concluded that SMF 9060 and carburizing-tempering heat treatment is an optimal material and heat treatment method for the spline hub. It will be able to reduce manufacturing cost and weight.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.56-60
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• 2011

A low temperature plasma carburizing process was performed to AISI 304L austenitic stainless steel to achieve the enhancement of surface hardness without a compromise in their corrosion resistance. Attempts were made to investigate the influence of the processing temperatures on the surface-hardened layer during low temperature plasma carburizng in order to obtain the optimum processing conditions. The expanded austenite (${\gamma}C$) was formed on all the treated surfaces. Precipitates of chromium carbides were detected in the hardened layer (C-enriched layer) only for the specimen treated at $500^{\circ}C$. The hardened layer thickness of ${\gamma}C$ increased up to about $35\;{\mu}m$, with increasing treatment temperature. The surface hardness reached about 1000 $HK_{0.05}$, which is about 4 times higher than that of the untreated sample (250 $HK_{0.05}$). Minor loss in corrosion resistance was observed for the specimens treated at temperatures of $310^{\circ}C-450^{\circ}C$ compared with untreated austenitic stainless steel. Particularly, the precipitation of chromium carbides at $500^{\circ}C$ led to a significant decrease in the corrosion resistance.