Effect of various surface heat treatment methods and its parametric variation on the hardness properties of different steels grades

Abstract

In the current era of industry 4.0 automobile industry is playing a major role. The material used for making parts of automobile such as camshaft, screws, nuts, transmission shaft etc. is directly related to vehicle performance. So, it is necessary to choose particular material grades. In automobile industry EN1A, AISI 1018, AISI 1020, 20MnCr5B, SCr420H, S700MC, AISI A514, AISI 8620, SAE1141 commonly use and has many applications. This material grades are usually incorporated in the many automobiles’ application mention above. The aim of the present study is to improve the performance of existing material grades by various heat treatment cycle. In the present study, few materials grade are identified such as EN1A, 20MnCr5B, SCr420H, SAE1141, AISI 8620 and subsequent heat treatment such as carburizing, tempering, hardening and diffusion performed on it. Study performed by varying process parameter such as time in range from 0.5 h to 6 h and temperature ranging from 160 °C to 930 °C in inert atmosphere. Over-all in the post heat treatment on various grades, it has been found that hardness of the material grades improved in the outermost layer of the sample and same pertain to the microstructure.