INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE AND TIME OF CASE HARDENING ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES AND MICROSTRUCTURE OF LOW CARBON STEEL (AISI 1020)

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is experimental study of pack carburizing of carbon steels (AISI 1020) by using two parameters (holding time and carburizing temperature). This study was conducted by using electrical furnace. This process is carried out at temperatures of 950°C for durations time 90 minutes. From the experiment, the surface hardness and thickness of carbon layer was different according to the parameters used. The quenching medium that uses in this experiment is water, oil, sea water and air. For carburizing temperature at 950°C, the highest of surface hardness value for air is 128 HV that carburized for 90 minutes, the highest of surface hardness value for water is 224 HV that carburized for 90 minutes. For carburizing temperature of 950°C, the highest of surface hardness value for sea water is 166.9 HV that carburized for 90 minutes and for carburizing temperature at 950°C which is the highest of surface hardness value for oil is 126 HV. The thickness of carbon layer was between 40μm to 120μm. The result indicates the carburizing process accelerates the diffusion of carbon atoms into the surface, thus increasing the thickness of carburized layer as well as the surface hardness.