HARDENING

Surface Hardening, a process that includes a wide variety of techniques and is used to
improve the wear resistance of parts without affecting the more soft, tough interior of the
part. This combination of hard surface and resistance to breakage on impact is useful in
parts such as cam or ring gear that must have very hard surface to resist wear, along
with a tough interior to resist the impact that occurs during operation.

There are three different approaches in surface hardening, they are

• Thermochemical diffusion methods - includes Carburizing, Nitriding,

Carbonitriding and Ferritic Nitrocarburizing
• Applied energy or thermal methods, which do not modify the chemical
composition of the surface but improve the properties by altering surface
metallurgy, that is, they produce a hard quenched surface without additional
alloying species.
• Surface coating or surface modification methods, which alter the subsurface
chemical composition.(hard chromium plating, Thermal spraying, Electroless
Nickel Coating, Weld Hardfacing, Chemical Vapor Deposition, Physical Vapor
Deposition, Ion Implantation, Laser Surface Processing)

APPLIED ENERGY OR THERMAL METHODS:

Flame Hardening: A high intensity oxy-acetylene flame is applied to the selective

region. The temperature is raised high enough to be in the region of Austenite
transformation. The right temperature is determined by the operator based on
experience by watching the color of the steel. The overall heat transfer is limited by the
torch and thus the interior never reaches the high temperature. The heated region is
quenched to achieve the desired hardness. Tempering can be done to eliminate
brittleness. The depth of hardening can be increased by increasing the heating time. As
much as 6.3 mm (0.25 in) of depth can be achieved. In addition, large parts, which will
not normally fit in a furnace, can be heat-treated.
Induction Hardening: In Induction hardening, the steel part is placed inside a electrical
coil which has alternating current through it. This energizes the steel part and heats it
up. Depending on the frequency and amperage, the rate of heating as well as the depth
of heating can be controlled. Hence, this is well suited for surface heat treatment. The
details of heat treatment are similar to flame hardening.

Laser Beam Hardening: Laser beam hardening is another variation of flame

hardening. A phosphate coating is applied over the steel to facilitate absorption of the
laser energy. The selected areas of the part are exposed to laser energy. This causes
the selected areas to heat. By varying the power of the laser, the depth of heat
absorption can be controlled. The parts are then quenched and tempered. This process
is very precise in applying heat selectively to the areas that need to be heat-treated.
Further, this process can be run at high speeds, produces very little distortion.

Electron Beam Hardening: Electron Beam Hardening is similar to laser beam

hardening. The heat source is a beam of high-energy electrons, manipulated using
electromagnetic coils. The process can be highly automated, but needs to be performed
under vacuum conditions since the electron beams dissipate easily in air. As in laser
beam hardening, the surface can be hardened very precisely both in depth and in
location.

The five hardening processes are:

• The Hall-Petch method is used to change the grain size in a material, which can
affect the dislocation density. Smaller grain size will make the material harder,
but if the grains get too small the hardness can actually decrease.
• Work hardening (also referred to as strain or cold hardening) the material is
strained past its yield point. The work done on the material adds energy and has
the ability to move and generate dislocations. This process usually takes place at
a temperature below the materials recrystallization temperature.
• Solid solution strengthening, an alloying element is added to the material
desired to be strengthened, and together they form a “solid solution”. Different
 alloying elements can be used to cause either a substitutional or an interstitial
solid solution.
• Precipitation hardening is a process where impure particles are distributed
throughout the metal. This is achieved by first heating the metal above its phase
transition temperature and then rapidly cooling the metal. Particles of the second
phase become trapped and form anchor points to impede the movement of
dislocations. Precipitation hardening is one of the most commonly used
techniques for the hardening of metal alloys. In steels, a similar method is
referred to as a martensitic transformation. In this transformation, austenite is
rapidly cooled off before the dissolved carbon atoms have a chance to escape,
forming martensite, a higher hardness phase of steel.
• Martensitic transformation, commonly known as quenching and tempering.

All hardening mechanisms, except of the martensitic transformation, introduce

dislocations or defects in a crystal lattice that act as barriers to slip.