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Dissimilar friction welding of induction surface-hardened steels and thermochemically treated steels
By Rhidiyan Waroko
Ion Mitelea , Victor Budu , Corneliu Crciunescu, Politehnica University of Timisoara, P-ta Victoriei nr. 2, 300007 Timisoara, Romania
Background
Friction welding is a highly productive process since it requires short processing times. Friction welding is an important solution for joining dissimilar steels, due to the particularities of the process that relies on the conversion of mechanical energy into thermal energy, with favourable effects on the resulting interface and heat affected zone. For friction joining of surface hardened steels, the distribution of the thermal gradient on the surfaces in contact during the process is affecting the hardness at the interface.
Background (2)
The friction welding parameters need to be considered and adequately selected in conjunction with the materials properties (specific heat, thermal conductivity, critical quenching rate, plastic deformation and recrystallization behaviour). This work is focused on the particularities of the conventional friction welding process of dissimilar steels for joints in which one component is inductionhardened, using high frequency currents, and the other one is subject to another heat or thermochemical treatment, such as carburization or nitriding.
Experimental Details
Table 1. The composition of the steels used in the experiments.
Fig. 1. Hardness gradient of the C55 steel after high frequency induction-hardening
In order to minimize the length of the softened part of the C55 induction hardened steel during the joining process, the friction/forging pressure was increased to 300/400 N/mm2. A lower friction/forging pressure, 200/300 N/mm2, was used in order to obtain a uniform distribution of the temperature in radial and axial directions.
Fig. 2. Macro and micrographic images of the dissimilar C55 induction-hardened with a C45 quenchhardened steel friction welded joint.
Fig. 3. Hardness gradients for two values of the friction/upsetting pressure across the joining plane for the dissimilar C45 quench-hardened-C55 induction-hardened friction welded joint, measured in the marginal and central areas, respectively.
Higher values for the friction pressure lead to a reduction of the hardness on the inductionhardened surface and only in a narrow range. The maximal friction pressure has to be limited to about 200 N/mm2 in order to avoid material separations in the centre of the joint plane, due to the deformation of colder areas, thus leading to deterioration of the mechanical properties.
Fig. 4. Details about the micro-tructure and hard-ess gra-dients in pre-welding state for the 16Mn Cr5 (carburized) and 34CrNiMo6 (induc- tion hardened) steels used in the experi- ments.
Tempered martensite and residual austenite (Fig. 4a) in the surface microstructure and ferrite-bainite in the core (Fig. 4b) were observed in carburized-quenchedtempered 16MnCr5 steel component,
Fig. 4. Details about the micro-tructure and hard-ess gra-dients in pre-welding state for the 16Mn Cr5 (carburized) and 34CrNiMo6 (induc- tion hardened) steels used in the experi- ments. (cont)
A distribution reflected by the hardness gradient of 16MnCr5 (Fig. 4c). The induction-hardened layer for the 34CrNiMo6 steel was in the range of 2 mm from the surface (Fig. 4d).
The microstructure of joint in Fig. 5c consists of bainite and ferrite for the induction-hardened 34CrNiMo6 steel, while the one of the carburized-quenchedtempered 16MnCr5 steel shows pearlite and carbides with a fraction of ferrite that becomes higher as the distance from the joint plane is increased. A fine structure with mostly pearlite predominates in the joint plane.
Fig. 6. Hardness gradients in axial direction across the joint plane for the inductionhardened 34CrNiMo6 steel with a 16MnCr5 carburized-quenched-tempered steel joint for two values of the friction/forging pressure. The reduction of the friction pressure to 200 N/mm2 did not significantly affect the results of the welding. An expansion of the softened area, from 13 to 15 mm (for increased friction time from 3 to 5 s) was observed due to the higher axial heat developed in the joint. By increasing the forging pressure from 300 to 400 N/mm2, the softened area can be further reduced.
Fig. 7. Typical microstructure and hardness gradient observed for the C45 after the nitriding operation and the macroscopic image of the C55 induction-hardened and C45 nitrided steel joint.
Conclusion
The joining of an induction-hardened C55 steel with a quenched-temperedhardened C45 steel, the friction pressure is limited to about 200 N/mm2, since higher values were observed to lead only to minor reduction of the hardness on the induction-hardened surface and can favour the presence of discontinuities in the centre of the joint plane. The friction welding of induction-hardened and thermochemically treated steels is influenced by the presence hard layers in the join plane. If such layers are not expunged during the process, they affect the integrity of the joint. By increasing the axial pressure, the thermochemically hardened layer can be expunged in the burr and the presence of macro and microstructural defects or the initiation of cracks or in the joint plane are suppressed. For dissimilar joints made out of an induction-hardened 34CrNiMo6 steel and a carburized 16MnCr5 steel, the expulsion of the carburized layer is not complete for upset lengths of 4.5 mm but was observed for friction/upsetting pressures, in the range of 300/400 N/mm2 and 6 mm upsetting lengths.
Conclusion (2)
The analysis of the friction welding process for induction-hardened C55 steels and nitrided C45 steel revealed that the presence of the nitride layer contributes to the reduction of the friction in the vicinity of the rotational axis. Regardless of the friction/forging pressures used (200/300 or 300/400 N/mm2) the joints showed good mechanical properties, but the complete expulsion of the nitride layer was observed only for 6 mm upset length.