Metal Science and Heat Treatment

Voi. 38, Nos. 9 - I0, 1996

T E C H N O L O G Y OF HEAT TREATMENT
UDC 621.785.796

VOLUME-SURFACE HARDENING OF RAILROAD TRANSPORT PARTS

BY A HIGH-SPEED WATER STREAM
V. M. F e d i n I
Translated from Metallovedenie i Termicheskaya Obrabotka Metailov, No. 9, pp. 2 - 6, September, 1996.
Large production volumes of rolling stock and track structure require the introduction of effective strengthening methods at a minimum expenditure. This stimulates a search for ways of increasing the service life of parts
of railroad transport. Volume-surface hardening is an efficient method of thermal strengthening. The method
consists in through or deep furnace or induction heating of parts before hardening and subsequent intense
cooling. The hardenability of the steel used is consistent with the thickness of the strengthened layer, which
creates a hardness gradient over the thickness of the parts, i.e., a high surface hardness and a ductile core. In
turn, this creates a favorable distribution of internal stresses and provides a high cyclic endurance of the parts
in operation. The possibility of using volume-surface hardening to strength railroad transport parts is considered with allowance for the special features of their production and operation.

The method of volume-surface hardening developed in

the 1960s on the initiative and under the guidance of Shepelyakovskii is widely used in industry, especially for strengthening gears, half-axles, spiders of Cardan joints, compound
springs, bearing races for railroad cars, and the like [ 1, 2]. Research conducted at the All-Russia Research Institute of Railroad Transport has shown that the application of this method
can be extended to strengthening a wide range of parts of rolling stock and track structure [3, 4].
The production of such parts has the following special
features:
1. The production is large-scale, and hence large volumes of metal are consumed. This makes the producers use
predominantly carbon and low-carbon steels not containing
expensive alloying elements. These steels have a low or restricted hardenability. Is some cases it is possible to use commercial steels with a guaranteed level of hardenability.
2. Most parts are fabricated from rolled stock or castings
with minimum mechanical processing and retention of the
black surface.
3. Large production volumes require environmentally
safe methods of heat treatment not involving gaseous atmospheres, quenching oils, or polymer quenching media.
4. In order to provide repair by welding, a considerable
part of the products are fabricated from low-carbon or low-alloyed steels with high critical cooling rates. The efficiency of

hardening such steels by conventional heat treatment methotis and, in particular, by volume water quenching is not high.
It is expedient to use intense cooling by a shower or a stream
of water. However, such cooling is hardly possible for largesize parts with a complex geometry, because this requires
cooling equipment with a complex design and complicated
maintenance and a large consumption of water.
In some cases parts of low-carbon steels with a wellmanifested gradient of the properties in the cross section can
be strengthened effectively with the use of quite simple and
reliable equipment, cooling in which results in the formation
of a martensitic structure in the surface layers. The term "volume-surface hardening" is applied to steels of this kind.
The presence of noumartensitic structures in the surface
layers worsens the properties of the parts [5], which should
be taken into account when choosing this method of hardening for a specific part.
The most important condition for appropriate strengthening of railroad transport parts consists in the creation of a
high-strength wear-resistant surface layer in the loaded zones
or over the entire surface. These properties are exhibited by a
surface layer with a martensitic structure obtained in steels
with an inherited fine-grained structure containing fine
austenite grains. As a rule, such a structure is obtained by
hardening after induction heating. However, induction heating can hardly be used for large parts of a complex shape.
The requirements on the quality of the heating and the
structure should be differentiated depending on the carbon

1 All-Russia Research Institute of Railroad Transporl, Russia.

365
0026-0673/96/0910-0365515.00 0 1997 Plenum Publishing Corporation

366

V.M. Fedin

~Sh, n l n l

ou ; o0.2, N / r n m 2

Clu

800

600

x -ll--

"~i''x"

~' ~

00"2

/,

211

J
0

10 h, mm

Fig. 1. Relationship between the hardness and the strength parameters of

steel 20GL.

Fig. 2. Variation of the wear resistance (lsh is the crater length) in Spindel
tests for wear resistance over the cross section of the functional zone of a
clutch lock of steel 20GL (h is the distance from the surface): 1 ) atk'r volume-saa-faee hardening; 2 ) after high-frequency surfacing by the technology
of the Bezlaitsk Steel Plant.

content in the steel. Specifically, in low-carbon steels with a

high fracture toughness the grain size is not a substantial factor for the mechanical properties, in contrast to steels with a
medium or high carbon content. For this reason, even furnace heating in hardening low-carbon steels with grain size
No. 7 - 8 provides a high level of mechanical properties.
High-carbon steels 55S, 65S, and 58 (55PP) (0.55 - 0.65% C)
possess a high set of strength and toughness properties only
after induction heating [ 1]. In order to strengthen a low-carbon steel to the maximum level, it is important to eliminate interim cooling, which causes segregation of excess (structurally free) ferrite, and conduct the hardening at a high cooling
rate, leading to formation of predominantly martensitic structures.
The high toughness of the low-carbon martensite, which
is partially decomposed in the cooling process, makes it possible to eliminate subsequent tempering of the parts, which is
often used in practice [6].
The relationship between the strength and the hardness of
low-carbon steels after hardening and tempering is illustrated
by Fig. 1. The possibility of a linear correlation between the
strength and the hardness of the steel o , = x . HB has been
shown in [7, 8]. It can be seen from Fig. 1 that the curves describing the function c~, = f ( H B ) consist of several rectilinear regions due to the fundamentally different structural states
of steel 20GL at different levels of hardness. At a hardness
below 250 HV, which corresponds to a predominantly ferritepearlite structure, the proportionality factor x is equal to 0.33,
which corresponds to the data of [7, 8]; at a hardness exceeding 360 HV (a predominantly martensitic structure) o , grows
much more intensely. In the intermediate region of 250 - 360
H V o , depends weakly on HV. The dependence of a0. 2 on HV
behaves in a similar way.
The elongation and the hardness are uncorrelated. The
highest value ~i = 1 2 - 18% corresponds to a ferrite-pearlite
structure. In steel 20GL with a predominantly martensitic
structure a quite high ductility is retained at a high strength
for ~5= 10%.

An electron-microscopic thin-foil study of the structure

of low-carbon steel St3ps after volume-surface hardening has
shown that the strengthened surface layer possesses a bainitemartensite structure (75% martensite) with regions of troostite and ferrite. With increasing distance from the surface the
amount of products of the martensite decomposition that occurs in the process of hardening cooling increases. At a distahoe of 2.5 - 3.0 mm from the surface the volume fraction of
bainite is below 50% and sorbite appears.
These data show that the use of a high-speed stream of
water in industrial cooling equipment for low-carbon steels
(0.15 - 0.30% C) does not always ensure a purely martensitic
structure. However, the surface layer strengthened by this
method has a rather high set of mechanical properties [9].
The deep layers outside the zone of effective strengthening contain all the mentioned structural components with a
high proportion of degenerate pearlite, and the structure is
coarsened due to the growth of segregated carbides.
For many railroad transport parts, and especially cast
parts of car clutches, the wear resistance should be very high.
In this respect hardening of steels with 0 . 1 7 - 0.25% C by a
high-speed water stream can compete with surfacing.
We tested specimens for wear resistance under the effect
of an abrasive medium by the method of Spindel. The results
of these tests agree well with operational data. The data presented in Fig. 2 show that the wear resistance of a clutch lock
of steel 20GL subjected to high-frequency surfacing exceeds
that after volume-surface hardening only within a facing
layer 1.5 mm thick; after abrasion of this layer the wear increases markedly. For an admissible abrasion depth of 4 - 5
mm, which is greater than the strengthened zone with a hardness of at least 35 HRC in parts hardened by a high-speed
water stream, the endurance of parts strengthened by both
variants is virtually the same.
In order to provide a high wear resistance and cyclic endurance of the parts, the thickness of the high-hardness surface layer and the strength level of the core should be sufficient for preventing failure under the action of the operational

200

300

400

HV

Volume-Surface Hardening of Railroad Transport Parts by a High-Speed Water Stream

stresses. In addition, the thickness of the strengthened surface

layer should be greater than the depth of propagation of surface defects typical for articles with a retained black surface
(castings, rolled stock). These defects include surface contamination, cracks, seams, scale, scratches caused by mechanical damage, a decarburized layer, and the like [10].
Castings (especially large ones) can contain blisters and other
discontinuities in the surface layers. In accordance with the
standards in force the depth of the layer with defects in rolled
stock should not exceed the negative allowance for the thickness of the profile, i.e., 0.2 - 0 . 5 mm in most cases. The kind
and size of admissible defects in castings are regulated by
specifications for various products, but in the absence of flaw
detection the size of the defects in an article can be quite
large.
When choosing the depth of strengthening, the thickness
of the surface layer containing defects and a heightened concenwation of microcraeks should be taken into account. It has
been shown in [11] that this layer forms in operation, especially due to fatigue and wear of the parts. The thickness of
the layer with defects grows with the thickness of the article,
and can attain 0.7 nun in, for example, rolls 110 mm in di-

367

HV / HV,=

0.6

~2

0.4

02

0.2

0.4

0,6

I h/R

0.8

Fig. 3. Variation of the relative hardness over cross secfious of parts of diffe~
ent steels after volume-surface hardening (/-/V~ is the hardness o f the surface,
H V is the hardness of the middle, h is the distance from the surface, R is the
radius or the half-thickness of the part): 1 ) clutch box of steel 20GL with a
wall thickness of 20 ram; 2 ) rail chair of steel SUII~ with a thickness o f
16 ram; 3, 4 ) helical springs of a car suspension of steel 58 (55PP) with a rod
diameter of 21 nun and of steel 55S with a rod diameter of 30 rnrn; r~o
fively.

amete~

By imposing a deeply strengthened layer with high residual compressive seesses over the defective layer, the influence of the defects as sources of fracture in cyclic loading is
compensated. For example, castings of steel 20GL with a
square cross section 130 x 130 mm in size and a wall thickness of 20 mm (boxes of clutches of railroad cars) after a volume surface hardening that provided a high-hardness layer
with a thickness h = 6 - 8 mm broke in cyclic tests in places
other than the stress concentrator (a 3-ram-deep transverse
notch imposed on them). It has been shown in [12] that this
can be explained by the positive effect of residual compressive stresses in the notch zone that balance the tensile stresses
due to the external load.
The black surface of a part with scale retained on it also
plays the role of a heat insulator that decelerates the cooling
of the part even if it is hardened by a high-speed water
stream. In some cases we could not detect signs of hardening
under a layer of dense and thick scale.
This indicates that the state of the surface of a part should
be taken into account when designing strengthening regimes
and preliminary tests of them on actual specimens of rolled
stock and castings. Scale should be removed from the surface
to be hardened.
Another important condition for effective use of volumesurface hardening of parts is the sufficient strength of the core
in the presence of a gradient of properties over the cross section, which should guarantee the creation of high residual
compressive stresses in the loaded surface layers that increase
the cyclic endurance and service life of the parts.
The admissible depth of surface hardening and the
strength of the deep layers and the core of a part can be evaluated by the method of "effective hardness" described in [1].
Figure 3 presents in relative units the distribution of the hard-

ness HI," over the cross section of railroad transport parts of

various steels for which the technology of volume-surface
hardening has been developed. The straight line in the same
figure characterizes the distribution of working stresses expressed in terms of hardness over the cross section of a part
subjected to torsion and bending. It can be seen that for all the
parts the distribution of the properties over the cross section
is favorable, because in any zone of the cross section the
working stresses do not exceed the strength of the maten'al. In
this case the principle of equal strength is realized to a certain
degree with maximum use of surface strengthening.
The maximum permissible depth of surface strengthening
is limited by the impossibility of stable realization of the principle of volume-surface hardening for a surface layer exceeding 0.25 of the thickness of the part [1] and the need to obtain
a hardness gradient over the cross section that would be sufficient for creating high residual compressive stresses in the
surface layers. Data on hardness gradients and levels of residual internal compressive stresses for different railroad transport parts are presented in Table 1.
For volume-surface hardening to be used efficiently the
hardenability of the steel should be consistent with the size of

TABLE 1
Article
Clutch box
Rail chair
Helical spring

Steel
20GL
3ps
55S
58 (55PP)

s (D), nun

HVIHVsur

ocomp , N/ram2

20
16
~ 30
O 21

0.67
0.58
0.45
0.48

200
200
850
860

Notatlee: s (D)) thickness or diameter of the articles; HV) core hardness;

HV~ ) surface hardness; acomp) residual compressive stress.

368

V.M. Fedln

v=, deg/sec

v~t. deg/see

}"10

21111

Ioc

150

~ " - ' - - 15
30

100

10

5O

15

20 h, mm

250 - I

50

20C
10

20

30

40

50

60 s ( D ) , m m

Fig. 4. Dependence of the critical cooling rate (Vcr) necessary for realization
of the effect of volume-sm'fa~ hardening of plate (I) and cylinder (2) parts
on the thickness (diameter) of the parts.

I00 ~

20
50

I0

20

70
30

100 I
40

h, nun

Fig. 5. Variationof the coolingrate(v~)

the cross section of the article or its strengthened parts. Figure

4 presents calculated critical cooling rates for volume-surface
hardening of steel articles with a cylindrical or plate shape
that produces a strengthened layer with a thickness of 13 25% and 10 - 25% of the thickness of the plate and the cylinder, respectively.
Experience in using the method has shown that the hardenability of carbon and low-alloyed steels, which can be
subjected to volume-surface hardening, can be evaluated by
the "method of multipliers" with an accuracy sufficient for
practical purposes [13]. The formula for calculating the hardenability is
D~ = D I "f-C-C (1 + 4.1Mn) (i + 0.64Si)
x (1 + 0.52Ni) (1 + 0.27Cu) (1 + 2.33Cr),
where D is the ideal critical diameter, mm; D l is a coefficient dependent on the size of the austenite grain (in accordance with the experimental data of B. K. Ushakov D I = 6.2
for grain size No. 11 - 12, D I = 6.75 for grain size No. 10);
C, Mn, Si, Ni, Cu, Cr are the mass fractions of the corresponding elements, %.
The critical diameter calculated by this formula for steel
58 (55PP) in the entire range of compositions of this grade is
D ~ = 9 . 6 - 18.1 and 10.5- 19.7 mm for grain sizes Nos. 11
and 10, respectively. In accordance with the experimental
data presented in [1] the actual level of the hardenability of
this steel corresponds to D~ = 1 0 - 14 mm, which shows that
the calculation is quite reliable if we take into account the
very low probability that the molten metal will have maximum contents of all the listed elements.
The critical cooling rate for producing a strengthened
layer with the requisite thickness can be determined using the
curves presented in Fig. 5. These curves have been plotted by
solving the Fourier differential equation of heat conduction
with boundary conditions of the third l<,!nd and the following

over the crosssectionof steel

plates(a) and cylinders(b) in throughheatingto 850"C and coolingby a
high-speed water sueam (/I is the distance from the surface). The numlg'rs at
the curves denote: a) plate thickness s, ram; b) cylinder diameter D, ram.

basic parameters: the heating rate 850 - 870C, the temperature of the cooling medium 20 - 30C, the coefficient of heat
transfer of the medium 46,400 W/(m 2. K), the thermal conductivity of the steel 34.1 W / ( m . K), the thermal diffusivity
ofaustenite 7.35 x 10 - 6 m 2 / s e c .
The cooling rates have been calculated for the 720 - 550C
range, because this range is decisive from the standpoint of
the position of the point A l and the temperature of minimum
stability of austenite in the cooling of carbon steels ( - 550C).
The relationship of the critical cooling rate v= and the
ideal critical diameter D~o (in mm) for steels under the conditions used for the calculation is determined by the equation
vet = 52,000 / D~.
The principles considered in the present work have been
used for developing technologies for volume-surface hardening of various parts of railroad transport, including:
- cast car clutches of steel 20GL;
- rail chairs of steel St3ps;
- springs of car suspensions with a rod diameter of
21 mm for steel 58 (55PP) and 30 mm for steel 55S.
The characteristics of these technologies and the properties of the parts are described in [3, 4].
An important merit of the developed technologies is their
environmental safety, because the heat treatment does not involve substances causing technogenic contamination,
namely, gaseous atmospheres, oils, salts, etc.
Thus, the accumulated experience in volume-surface
hardening of parts shows that it can be used successfully on a
wider scale.

Volume-Surface Hardening of Railroad Transport Parts by a High-Speed Water Stream

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of steel as a means of strengthening critical machine parts and
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No. 1 1 , 8 - 14(1993).
3. V. M. Fedin, "Hardening rails by a high-speed water stream,"
Metailoved. Term. Obrab. Met., No. 8, 2 - 5 (1993).
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6. Yu. A. Bashnin, B. K. Ushakov, and A. G. Sekei, Technology of
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(1986).

369

7. A. P. Gulyaev, "On strength," Metalloved. Term. Obrab. Met.,

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