The Working of Steel Part 12

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 39.--Why heat treatment of case-hardened work is necessary.]

The old way of case-hardening was to dump the contents of the box at the end of the carburizing heat. Later study in the structure of steel thus treated has caused a change in this procedure, the use of automobiles and alloy steels probably hastening this result.

The diagrams reproduced in Fig. 39 show why the heat treatment of case-hardened work is necessary. Starting at _A_ with a close-grained and tough stock, such as ordinary machinery steel containing from 15 to 20 points of carbon, if such work is quenched on a carbonizing heat the result will be as shown at _B_. This gives a core that is coa.r.s.e-grained and brittle and an outer case that is fine-grained and hard, but is likely to flake off, owing to the great difference in structure between it and the core. Reheating this work beyond the critical temperature of the core refines this core, closes the grain and makes it tough, but leaves the case very brittle; in fact, more so than it was before.

REFINING THE GRAIN

This is remedied by reheating the piece to a temperature slightly above the critical temperature of the case, this temperature corresponding ordinarily to that of steel having a carbon content of 85 points, When this is again quenched, the temperature, which has not been high enough to disturb the refined core, will have closed the grain of the case and toughened it. So, instead of but one heat and one quenching for this cla.s.s of work, we have three of each, although it is quite possible and often profitable to omit the quenching after carburizing and allow the piece or pieces and the case-carburizing box to cool together, as in annealing.

Sometimes another heat treatment is added to the foregoing, for the purpose of letting down the hardness of the case and giving it additional toughness by heating to a temperature between 300 and 500. Usually this is done in an oil bath. After this the piece is allowed to cool.

It is possible to harden the surface of tool steel extremely hard and yet leave its inner core soft and tough for strength, by a process similar to case-hardening and known as "pack-hardening."

It consists in using tool steel of carbon contents ranging from 60 to 80 points, packing this in a box with charred leather mixed with wood charcoal and heating at a low-red heat for 2 or 3 hr., thus raising the carbon content of the exterior of the piece. The article when quenched in an oil bath will have an extremely hard exterior and tough core. It is a good scheme for tools that must be hard and yet strong enough to stand abuse. Raw bone is never used as a packing for this cla.s.s of work, as it makes the cutting edges brittle.

CASE-HARDENING TREATMENTS FOR VARIOUS STEELS

Plain water, salt water and linseed oil are the three most common quenching materials for case-hardening. Water is used for ordinary work, salt water for work which must be extremely hard on the surface, and oil for work in which toughness is the main consideration. The higher the carbon of the case, the less sudden need the quenching action take hold of the piece; in fact, experience in case-hardening work gives a great many combinations of quenching baths of these three materials, depending on their temperatures. Thin work, highly carbonized, which would fly to pieces under the slightest blow if quenched in water or brine, is made strong and tough by properly quenching in slightly heated oil. It is impossible to give any rules for the temperature of this work, so much depending on the size and design of the piece; but it is not a difficult matter to try three or four pieces by different methods and determine what is needed for best results.

The alloy steels are all susceptible of case-hardening treatment; in fact, this is one of the most important heat treatments for such steels in the automobile industry. Nickel steel carburizes more slowly than common steel, the nickel seeming to have the effect of slowing down the rate of penetration. There is no cloud without its silver lining, however, and to offset this r.e.t.a.r.dation, a single treatment is often sufficient for nickel steel; for the core is not coa.r.s.ened as much as low-carbon machinery steel and thus ordinary work may be quenched on the carburizing heat. Steel containing from 3 to 3.5 per cent of nickel is carburized between 1,650 and 1,750F. Nickel steel containing less than 25 points of carbon, with this same percentage of nickel, may be slightly hardened by cooling in air instead of quenching.

Chrome-nickel steel may be case-hardened similarly to the method just described for nickel steel, but double treatment gives better results and is used for high-grade work. The carburizing temperature is the same, between 1,650 and 1,750F., the second treatment consisting of reheating to 1,400 and then quenching in boiling salt water, which gives a hard surface and at the same time prevents distortion of the piece. The core of chrome-nickel case-hardened steel, like that of nickel steel, is not coa.r.s.ened excessively by the first heat treatment, and therefore a single heating and quenching will suffice.

CARBURIZING BY GAS

The process of carburizing by gas, briefly mentioned on page 88, consists of having a slowly revolving, properly heated, cylindrical retort into which illuminating gas (a mixture of various hydrocarbons) is continuously injected under pressure. The spent gases are vented to insure the greatest speed in carbonizing. The work is constantly and uniformly exposed to a clean carbonizing atmosphere instead of partially spent carbonaceous solids which may give off very complex compounds of phosphorus, sulphur, carbon and nitrogen.

Originally this process was thought to require a gas generator but it has been discovered that city gas works all right. The gas consists of vapors derived from petroleum or bituminous coal. Sometimes the gas supply is diluted by air, to reduce the speed of carburization and increase the depth.

PREVENTING CARBURIZING BY COPPER-PLATING

Copper-plating has been found effective and must have a thickness of 0.0005 in. Less than this does not give a continuous coating.

The plating bath used has a temperature of 170F. A voltage of 4.1 is to be maintained across the terminals. Regions which are to be hardened can be kept free from copper by coating them with paraffin before they enter the plating tank. The operation is as follows:

Operation No. Contents of bath Purpose 1 Gasoline To remove grease 2 Sawdust To dry 3 Warm pota.s.sium hydroxide solution To remove grease and dirt 4 Warm water To wash 5 Warm sulphuric acid solution To acid clean 6 Warm water To wash 7 Cold water Additional wash 8 Cold pota.s.sium cyanide solution Cleanser 9 Cold water To wash 10 Electric cleaner, warm sodium Cleanser to give good hydroxide case-iron anode plating surface 11 Copper plating bath of copper Plating bath sulphate and pota.s.sium cyanide solution warm

There are also other methods of preventing case-hardening, one being to paint the surface with a special compound prepared for this purpose. In some cases a coating of plastic asbestos is used while in others thin sheet asbestos is wired around the part to be kept soft.

PREPARING PARTS FOR LOCAL CASE-HARDENING

At the works of the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company, Dayton, Ohio, they have a large quant.i.ty of small shafts, Fig. 40, that are to be case-hardened at _A_ while the ends _B_ and _C_ are to be left soft. Formerly, the part _A_ was brush-coated with melted paraffin but, as there were many shafts, this was tedious and great care was necessary to avoid getting paraffin where it was not wanted.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 40.--Shaft to be coated with paraffin.]

To insure uniform coating the device shown in Fig. 41 was made.

Melted paraffin is poured in the well _A_ and kept liquid by setting the device on a hot plate, the paraffin being kept high enough to touch the bottoms of the rollers. The shaft to be coated is laid between the rollers with one end against the gage _B_, when a turn or two of the crank _C_ will cause it to be evenly coated.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 41.--Device for coating the shaft.]

THE PENETRATION OF CARBON

Carburized mild steel is used to a great extent in the manufacture of automobile and other parts which are likely to be subjected to rough usage. The strength and ability to withstand hard knocks depend to a very considerable degree on the thoroughness with which the carburizing process is conducted.

Many automobile manufacturers have at one time or another pa.s.sed through a period of unfortunate breakages, or have found that for a certain period the parts turned out of their hardening shops were not sufficiently hard to enable the rubbing surfaces to stand up against the pressure to which they were subjected.

So many factors govern the success of hardening that often this succession of bad work has been actually overcome without those interested realizing what was the weak point in their system of treatment. As the question is one that can create a bad reputation for the product of any firm it is well to study the influential factors minutely.

INTRODUCTION OF CARBON

The matter to which these notes are primarily directed is the introduction of carbon into the case of the article to be hardened.

In the first place the chances of success are increased by selecting as few brands of steel as practicable to cover the requirements of each component of the mechanism. The hardener is then able to become accustomed to the characteristics of that particular material, and after determining the most suitable treatment for it no further experimenting beyond the usual check-test pieces is necessary.

Although a certain make of material may vary in composition from time to time the products of a manufacturer of good steel can be generally relied upon, and it is better to deal directly with him than with others.

In most cases the case-hardening steels can be chosen from the following: (1) Case-hardening mild steel of 0.20 per cent carbon; (2) case-hardening 3-1/2 per cent nickel steel; (3) case-hardening nickel-chromium steel; (4) case-hardening chromium vanadium. After having chosen a suitable steel it is best to have the sample a.n.a.lyzed by reliable chemists and also to have test pieces machined and pulled.

To prepare samples for a.n.a.lysis place a sheet of paper on the table of a drilling machine, and with a 3/8-in. diameter drill, machine a few holes about 3/8 in. deep in various parts of the sample bar, collecting about 3 oz. of fine drillings free from dust. This can be placed in a bottle and dispatched to the laboratory with instructions to search for carbon, silicon, manganese, sulphur, phosphorus and alloys. The results of the different tests should be carefully tabulated, and as there would most probably be some variation an average should be made as a fair basis of each element present, and the following tables may be used with confidence when deciding if the material is reliable enough to be used.

TABLE 16.--CASE-HARDENING MILD STEEL OF 0.20 PER CENT CARBON

Carbon 0.15 to 0.25 per cent Silicon Not over 0.20 per cent Manganese 0.30 to 0.60 per cent Sulphur Not over 0.04 per cent Phosphorus Not over 0.04 per cent

A tension test should register at least 60,000 lb. per square inch.

TABLE 17.--CASE-HARDENING 3-1/2 PER CENT NICKEL STEEL

Carbon 0.12 to 0.20 per cent Manganese 0.65 per cent Sulphur Not over 0.045 per cent Phosphorus Not over 0.04 per cent Nickel 3.25 to 3.75 per cent

TABLE 18.--CASE-HARDENING NICKEL CHROMIUM STEEL

Carbon 0.15 to 0.25 per cent Manganese 0.50 to 0.80 per cent Sulphur Not over 0.045 per cent Phosphorus Not over 0.04 per cent Nickel 1 to 1.5 per cent Chromium 0.45 to 0.75 per cent

TABLE 19.--CASE-HARDENING CHROMIUM VANADIUM STEEL

Carbon Not over 0.25 per cent Manganese 0.50 to 0.85 per cent Sulphur Not over 0.04 per cent Phosphorus Not over 0.04 per cent Chromium 0.80 to 1.10 per cent Vanadium Not less than 0.15 per cent

Having determined what is required we now proceed to inquire into the question of carburizing, which is of vital importance.

USING ILLUMINATING GAS

The choice of a carburizing furnace depends greatly on the facilities available in the locality where the shop is situated and the nature and quant.i.ty of the work to be done. The furnaces can be heated with producer gas in most cases, but when s.p.a.ce is of value illuminating gas from a separate source of supply has some compensations. When the latter is used it is well to install a governor if the pressure is likely to fluctuate, particularly where the shop is at a high alt.i.tude or at a long distance from the gas supply.

Many furnaces are coal-fired, and although greater care is required in maintaining a uniform temperature good results have been obtained.

The use of electricity as a means of reaching the requisite temperature is receiving some attention, and no doubt it would make the control of temperature comparatively simple. However, the cost when applied to large quant.i.ties of work will, for the present at least, prevent this method from becoming popular. It is believed that the results obtainable with the electric furnace would surpa.s.s any others; but the apparatus is expensive, and unless handled with intelligence would not last long.

The most elementary medium of carburization is pure carbon, but the rate of carburization induced by this material is very low, and other components are necessary to accelerate the process. Many mixtures have been marketed, each possessing its individual merits, and as the prices vary considerably it is difficult to decide which is the most advantageous.

Absorption from actual contact with solid carbon is decidedly slow, and it is necessary to employ a compound from which gases are liberated, and the steel will absorb the carbon from the gases much more readily.

Both bone and leather charcoal give off more carburizing gases than wood charcoal, and although the high sulphur content of the leather is objectionable as being injurious to the steel, as also is the high phosphorus content of the bone charcoal, they are both preferable to the wood charcoal.

By mixing bone charcoal with barium carbonate in the proportions of 60 per cent of the former to 40 per cent of the latter a very reliable compound is obtained.