The Working of Steel Part 11

When pots are packed and the carburizer thoroughly tamped down, the covers of the pot are put on and sealed with fire clay which has a little salt mixed into it. The more perfect the seal the more we can get out of the carburizer. The rates of penetration depend on temperature and the presence of proper gas in the required volume. Any pressure we can cause will, of course, have a tendency to increase the rate of penetration.

If you have a wide furnace, do not load it full at one time. Put one-half your load in first, in the center of the furnace, and heat until pots show a low red, about 1,325 to 1,350F. Then fill the furnace by putting the cold pots on the outside or, the section nearest the source of heat. This will give the work in the slowest portion of the furnace a chance to come to heat at the same time as the pots that are nearest the sources of heat.

To obtain an even heating of the pots and lessen their tendency to warp and scale, and to cause the contents of the furnace to heat up evenly, we should use a reducing fire and fill the heating chamber with flame. This can be accomplished by partially closing the waste gas vents and reducing slightly the amount of air used by the burners. A short flame will then be noticed issuing from the partially closed vents. Thus, while maintaining the temperature of the heating chamber, we will have a lower temperature in the combustion chamber, which will naturally increase its longevity.

Sometimes it is advisable to cool the work in the pots. This saves compound, and causes a more gradual diffusion of the carbon between the case and the core, and is very desirable condition, inasmuch as abrupt cases are inclined to chip out.

The most satisfactory steel to carburize contains between 0.10 and 0.20 per cent carbon, less than 0.35 per cent manganese, less than 0.04 per cent phosphorus and sulphur, and low silicon. But steel of this composition does not seem to satisfy our progressive engineers, and many alloy steels are now on the market, these, although more or less difficult to machine, give when carburized the various qualities demanded, such as a very hard case, very tough core, or very hard case and tough core. However, the additional elements also have a great effect both on the rate of penetration during the carburizing operation, and on the final treatment, consequently such alloy steels require very careful supervision during the entire heat treating operations.

RATE OF ABSORPTION

According to Guillet, the absorption of carbon is favored by those special elements which exist as double carbides in steel. For example, manganese exists as manganese carbide in combination with the iron carbide. The elements that favor the absorption of carbon are: manganese, tungsten, chromium and molybdenum those opposing it, nickel, silicon, and aluminum. Guillet has worked out the effect of the different elements on the rate of penetration in comparison with steel that absorbed carbon at a given temperature, at an average rate of 0.035 in. per hour.

His tables show that the following elements require an increased time of exposure to the carburizing material in order to obtain the same depth of penetration as with simple steel:

When steel contains Increased time of exposure 2.0 per cent nickel 28 per cent 7.0 per cent nickel 30 per cent 1.0 per cent t.i.tanium 12 per cent 2.0 per cent t.i.tanium 28 per cent 0.5 per cent silicon 50 per cent 1.0 per cent silicon 80 per cent 2.0 per cent silicon 122 per cent 5.0 per cent silicon No penetration 1.0 per cent aluminum 122 per cent 2.0 per cent aluminum 350 per cent

The following elements seem to a.s.sist the rate of penetration of carbon, and the carburizing time may therefore be reduced as follows:

When steel contains Decreased time of exposure 0.5 per cent manganese 18 per cent 1.0 per cent manganese 25 per cent 1.0 per cent chromium 10 per cent 2.0 per cent chromium 18 per cent 0.5 per cent tungsten 0 1.0 per cent tungsten 0 2.0 per cent tungsten 25 per cent 1.0 per cent molybdenum 0 2.0 per cent molybdenum 18 per cent

The temperature at which carburization is accomplished is a very important factor. Hence the necessity for a reliable pyrometer, located so as to give the temperature just below the tops of the pots. It must be remembered, however, that the pyrometer gives the temperature of only one spot, and is therefore only an aid to the operator, who must use his eyes for successful results.

The carbon content of the case generally is governed by the temperature of the carburization. It generally proves advisable to have the case contain between 0.90 per cent and 1.10 carbon; more carbon than this gives rise to excess free cement.i.te or carbide of iron, which is detrimental, causing the case to be brittle and apt to chip.

T. G. Selleck gives a very useful table of temperatures and the relative carbon contents of the case of steels carburized between 4 and 6 hrs. using a good charcoal carburizer. This data is as follows:

TABLE 15.--CARBON CONTENT OBTAINED AT VARIOUS TEMPERATURES

At 1,500F., the surface carbon content will be 0.90 per cent At 1,600F., the surface carbon content will be 1.00 per cent At 1,650F., the surface carbon content will be 1.10 per cent At 1,700F., the surface carbon content will be 1.25 per cent At 1,750F., the surface carbon content will be 1.40 per cent At 1,800F., the surface carbon content will be 1.75 per cent

To this very valuable table, it seems best to add the following data, which we have used for a number of years. We do not know the name of its author, but it has proved very valuable, and seems to complete the above information. The table is self-explanatory, giving depth of penetration of the carbon of the case at different temperatures for different lengths of time:

--------------------------------------------------------- | Temperature Penetration |----------------------------- | 1,550 | 1,650 | 1,800 ---------------------------|---------|---------|--------- Penetration after 1/2 hr. | 0.008 | 0.012 | 0.030 Penetration after 1 hr. | 0.018 | 0.026 | 0.045 Penetration after 2 hr. | 0.035 | 0.048 | 0.060 Penetration after 3 hr. | 0.045 | 0.055 | 0.075 Penetration after 4 hr. | 0.052 | 0.061 | 0.092 Penetration after 6 hr. | 0.056 | 0.075 | 0.110 Penetration after 8 hr. | 0.062 | 0.083 | 0.130 ---------------------------------------------------------

From the tables given, we may calculate with a fair degree of certainty the amount of carbon in the case, and its penetration. These figures vary widely with different carburizers, and as pointed out immediately above, with different alloy steels.

CARBURIZING MATERIAL

The simplest carburizing substance is charcoal. It is also the slowest, but is often used mixed with something that will evolve large volumes of carbon monoxide or hydrocarbon gas on being heated.

A great variety of materials is used, a few of them being charcoal (both wood and bone), charred leather, crushed bone, horn, mixtures of charcoal and barium carbonate, c.o.ke and heavy oils, c.o.ke treated with alkaline carbonates, peat, charcoal mixed with common salt, saltpeter, resin, flour, pota.s.sium b.i.+.c.hromate, vegetable fibre, limestone, various seed husks, etc. In general, it is well to avoid complex mixtures.

H. L. Heathcote, on a.n.a.lyzing seventeen different carburizers, found that they contained the following ingredients:

Per cent Moisture 2.68 to 26.17 Oil 0.17 to 20.76 Carbon (organic) 6.70 to 54.19 Calcium phosphate 0.32 to 74.75 Calcium carbonate 1.20 to 11.57 Barium carbonate nil to 42.00 Zinc oxide nil to 14.50 Silica nil to 8.14 Sulphates (SO3) trace to 3.45 Sodium chloride nil to 7.88 Sodium carbonate nil to 40.00 Sulphides (S) nil to 2.80

Carburizing mixtures, though bought by weight, are used by volume, and the weight per cubic foot is a big factor in making a selection.

A good mixture should be porous, so that the evolved gases, which should be generated at the proper temperature, may move freely around the steel objects being carburized; should be a good conductor of heat; should possess minimum shrinkage when used; and should be capable of being tamped down.

Many "secret mixtures" are sold, falsely claimed to be able to convert inferior metal into crucible tool steel grade. They are generally nothing more than mixtures of carbonaceous and cyanogen compounds possessing the well-known carburizing properties of those substances.

QUENCHING

It is considered good practice to quench alloy steels from the pot, especially if the case is of any appreciable depth. The texture of carbon steel will be weakened by the prolonged high heat of carburizing, so that if we need a tough core, we must reheat it above its critical range, which is about 1,600F. for soft steel, but lower for manganese and nickel steels. Quenching is done in either water, oil, or air, depending upon the results desired.

The steel is then very carefully reheated to refine the case, the temperature varying from 1,350 to 1,450F., depending on whether the material is an alloy or a simple steel, and quenched in either water or oil.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 32.--Case-hardening depths.]

There are many possibilities yet to be developed with the carburizing of alloy steels, which can produce a very tough, tenacious austenitic case which becomes hard on cooling in air, and still retains a soft, pearlitic core. An austenitic case is not necessarily file hard, but has a very great resistance to abrasive wear.

The more carbon a steel has to begin with the more slowly will it absorb carbon and the lower the temperature required. Low-carbon steel of from 15 to 20 points is generally used and the carbon brought up to 80 or 85 points. Tool steels may be carbonized as high as 250 points.

In addition to the carburizing materials given, a mixture of 40 per cent of barium carbonate and 60 per cent charcoal gives much faster penetration than charcoal, bone or leather. The penetration of this mixture on ordinary low-carbon steel is shown in Fig. 32, over a range of from 2 to 12 hr.

EFFECT OF DIFFERENT CARBURIZING MATERIAL

[Ill.u.s.trations: FIGS. 33 to 37.]

Each of these different packing materials has a different effect upon the work in which it is heated. Charcoal by itself will give a rather light case. Mixed with raw bone it will carburize more rapidly, and still more so if mixed with burnt bone. Raw bone and burnt bone, as may be inferred, are both quicker carbonizers than charcoal, but raw bone must never be used where the breakage of hardened edges is to be avoided, as it contains phosphorus and tends to make the piece brittle. Charred leather mixed with charcoal is a still faster material, and horns and hoofs exceed even this in speed; but these two compounds are restricted by their cost to use with high-grade articles, usually of tool or high-carbon steel, that are to be hardened locally--that is, "pack-hardened."

Cyanide of pota.s.sium or prussiate of potash are also included in the list of carbonizing materials; but outside of carburizing by dipping into melted baths of this material, their use is largely confined to local hardening of small surfaces, such as holes in dies and the like.

Dr. Federico Giolitti has proven that when carbonizing with charcoal, or charcoal plus barium carbonate, the active agent which introduces carbon into the steel is a gas, carbon monoxide (CO), derived by combustion of the charcoal in the air trapped in the box, or by decomposition of the carbonate. This gas diffuses in and out of the hot steel, transporting carbon from the charcoal to the outer portions of the metal:

If energizers like tar, peat, and vegetable fiber are used, they produce hydrocarbon gases on being heated--gases princ.i.p.ally composed of hydrogen and carbon. These gases are unstable in the presence of hot iron: it seems to decompose them and sooty carbon is deposited on the surface of the metal. This diffuses into the metal a little, but it acts princ.i.p.ally by being a ready source of carbon, highly active and waiting to be carried into the metal by the carbon monoxide--which as before, is the princ.i.p.al transfer agent.

Animal refuse when used to speed up the action of clean charcoal acts somewhat in the same manner, but in addition the gases given off by the hot substance contain nitrogen compounds. Nitrogen and cyanides (compounds of carbon and nitrogen) have long been known to give a very hard thin case very rapidly. It has been discovered only recently that this is due to the steel absorbing nitrogen as well as carbon, and that nitrogen hardens steel and makes it brittle just like carbon does. In fact it is very difficult to distinguish between these two hardening agents when examining a carburized steel under the microscope.

One of the advantages of hardening by carburizing is the fact that you can arrange to leave part of the work soft and thus retain the toughness and strength of the original material. Figures 33 to 37 show ways of doing this. The inside of the cup in Fig. 34 is locally hardened, as ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 34, "spent" or used bone being packed around the surfaces that are to be left soft, while cyanide of pota.s.sium is put around those which are desired hard. The threads of the nut in Fig. 35 are kept soft by carburizing the nut while upon a stud. The profile gage, Fig. 36, is made of high-carbon steel and is hardened on the inside by packing with charred leather, but kept soft on the outside by surrounding it with fireclay. The rivet stud shown in Fig. 37 is carburized while of its full diameter and then turned down to the size of the rivet end, thus cutting away the carburized surface.

After packing the work carefully in the boxes the lids are sealed or luted with fireclay to keep out any gases from the fire. The size of box should be proportioned to the work. The box should not be too large especially for light work that is run on a short heat. If it can be just large enough to allow the proper amount of material around it, the work is apt to be more satisfactory in every way.

Pieces of this kind are of course not quenched and hardened in the carburizing heat, but are left in the box to cool, just as in box annealing, being reheated and quenched as a second operation.

In fact, this is a good scheme to use for the majority of carburizing work of small and moderate size. Material is on the market with which one side of the steel can be treated; or copper-plating one side of it will answer the same purpose and prevent that side becoming carburized.

QUENCHING THE WORK

In some operations case-hardened work is quenched from the box by dumping the whole contents into the quenching tank. It is common practice to leave a sieve or wire basket to catch the work, allowing the carburizing material to fall to the bottom of the tank where it can be recovered later and used again as a part of a new mixture.

For best results, however, the steel is allowed to cool down slowly in the box after which it is removed and hardened by heating and quenching the same as carbon steel of the same grade. It has absorbed sufficient carbon so that, in the outer portions at least, it is a high-carbon steel.

THE QUENCHING TANK

The quenching tank is an important feature of apparatus in case-hardening--possibly more so than in ordinary tempering. One reason for this is because of the large quant.i.ties of pieces usually dumped into the tank at a time. One cannot take time to separate the articles themselves from the case-hardening mixture, and the whole content of the box is droped into the bath in short order, as exposure to air of the heated work is fatal to results. Unless it is split up, it is likely to go to the bottom as a solid ma.s.s, in which case very few of the pieces are properly hardened.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 38.--Combination cooling tank for case-hardening.]

A combination cooling tank is shown in Fig. 38. Water inlet and outlet pipes are shown and also a drain plug that enables the tank to be emptied when it is desired to clean out the spent carburizing material from the bottom. A wire-bottomed tray, framed with angle iron, is arranged to slide into this tank from the top and rests upon angle irons screwed to the tank sides. Its function is to catch the pieces and prevent them from settling to the tank bottom, and it also makes it easy to remove a batch of work. A bottomless box of sheet steel is shown at _C_. This fits into the wire-bottomed tray and has a number of rods or wires running across it, their purpose being to break up the ma.s.s of material as it comes from the carbonizing box.

Below the wire-bottomed tray is a perforated cross-pipe that is connected with a compressed-air line. This is used when case-hardening for colors. The shop that has no air compressor may rig up a satisfactory equivalent in the shape of a low-pressure hand-operated air pump and a receiver tank, for it is not necessary to use high-pressure air for this purpose. When colors are desired on case-hardened work, the treatment in quenching is exactly the same as that previously described except that air is pumped through this pipe and keeps the water agitated. The addition of a slight amount of powdered cyanide of pota.s.sium to the packing material used for carburizing will produce stronger colors, and where this is the sole object, it is best to maintain the box at a dull-red heat.