A COMPARISION STUDY ON DEPTH

OF DECARBURIZATION AND THE ROLE

OF STABLE CARBIDE FORMING IN
GREY CAST IRON AND EN8 MATERIAL
Introduction:
Decarburization involves the removal of near-surface carbon from
steel at elevated temperatures with in the austenite phase region. It
remains a persistent problem during high-temperature heat treatments
carried out in industrial operations , such as forging and rolling . As a of
near-surface carbon less from steel at high temperatures , the surface
of the steel has a lower hardness and tensile strength. The fatigue
resistance and wear rate are also adversely affected by decarburization.
Machining operations are often necessary following heat treatments
to remove weakened near-surface material from the steel.

That being said , it is important to understand the process of

decarburization the different types of steel during heat treating and
hot-working operations. It is well known that diffusion coefficient
follows an Arrhenius relationship, and is exponentially dependent upon
temperature. Different alloying compositions can also greatly affect the
decarburization response of particular type of steel. Therefore, it is
valuable to study not only the effect of temperature on depth of
decarburization, but also the affect that stable carbide forming and
additional elements have on the decarburization response of a
particular alloy.
PROCEDURE:
Decarburization heat treatments were carried out on
samples of grey cast iron and En8 material at degree testing
temperatures. Tables A and B display the chemical composition of grey
cast iron and En8 metal examined in this study.

The cast iron and En8 metal samples ( in the as received

condition) were in the form of plates. The cast iron had a thickness of
6.4mm , and the En8 had a thickness of 7.2mm. samples are initially
cut in to the sizes of 50mm (length) and 4.5 mm(breadth). The cast iron
and En8 material samples were heat treated together using muffle
furnace at target temperature of 650’C , 750’C , 800’C for cast iron and
the target temperature for En8 material is 850’C , 950’C , 1000’C .

After reaching the targeted temperature , the samples dwelled for

two hours , Samples were subsequently air cooled by removing them
from the furnace immediately following the two hours dwelled period.
The six decarburization conditions carried out on the samples are
shown in table C.
TABLE A: Chemical composition of grey cast iron ( BEFORE
HEAT TREATMENT)
Alloying Element Weight (%)
TABLE B: Chemical composition for En8 material (BEFORE HEAT
TREATMENT )
 After undergoing heat treatments , smaller samples were cut
approximately 5mm from the end of treated metals and were
mounded in epoxy . After the epoxy curved samples were polished
starting with 1200,1000,800,600,400,360,0/1,0/2 and 0/3 grit SiC
sandpaper ,followed by a diamond power coating polishing wheel ,and
finally a 0.3 µm alumina powder –coated polishing wheel. Following
this steps the micro structure image has been for the 100X and 200X
magnification . The micro structure and the decarburization patterns
were analyzed using analysis software and comparisons were made
between the decarburization patterns in all eight samples.

ROCK WELL HARDNESS DATA RESULTS (for initial

metal):
After undergoing the heat treatments, the samples were subjected to
the Rockwell hardness testing. The Rockwell hardness profiles has
been shown in fig 2.1 (for initial metal), the hardness is very high for
the initial metals .

Rockwell Hardness values for the initial En8 material ,

SCALE : B-scale ( red color)

LOAD : 100Kgf

S.No Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average

(IN RHN) (IN RHN) (IN RHN) (IN RHN)
1 78 79 81 80
Rockwell Hardness values for the initial grey cast iron:

SCALE: C –SCALE (black color)

LOAD : 150Kgf

S.No Trial -1 Trial -2 Trial -3 AVERAGE

(in RHN) (in RHN) (in RHN) (in RHN)
1 75 74 74 74
COMPRESSION TEST FOR GREY CAST

IRON :(for initial cast iron)

HORIZONTAL COMPRESSION TEST :

Maximum load
withstand by this
sample metal Piece
during Horizontal
compression is
106 KN
VERTICAL COMPRESSION TEST :

The maximum load withstand by the sample metal

piece during vertical compression is 36 KN
MICROSCOPIC OBSERVATIONS FOR THE INITIAL
METALS:
FOR GREY CAST IRON:
1. MAGNIFICATION - 100X,
2. MAGNIFICATION-200X
FOR En8 MATERIAL :
1.MAGNIFICATION : 100X
2. MAGNIFICATION : 200X
CHEMICAL COMPOISITION FOR THE HEAT TREATED
MATELS:
For heat treated cast iron at 650˚C ,

For heat treated cast iron at 750 ˚C,

For heat treated cast iron at 800 ˚C,

For heat treated En8 material at 850 ͦC,

For heat treated En8 materials at 950 ˚C,

For heat treated En8 materials at 1000 ͦC,

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OBSERVATIONS RESULT:
As compared to initial metal (both cast iron and En8 material) , the
carbon content has decreased , and other compositions also varied
when compared to the initial metals . Hence the metals has been
decarburized during heating for two hours in the furnace and during
the air cooling , as the results of heat treatment and annealing the
metals has been decarburized .
Rockwell hardness for the heat treated metals :

METAL : Grey cast iron (HEAT TREATED)

INDENTOR TYPE: Diamond

LOAD : 150 Kgf

SCALE : C-scale ( black color)

TEMPERATURE TRIAL-1 TRIAL-2 TRIAL-3 ROCKWELL HARDNESS

(˚ C) NUMBER (in RHN)
650 66 67 66 66
750 61 59 58 59
800 55 57 54 55
METAL : En8
INDENTOR TYPE: Ball indentor

LOAD : 100 Kgf

SCALE : B- Scale (red color)

TEMPERATURE TRAIL-1 TRIAL-2 TRIAL-3 ROCKWELL HARDNESS

(in ͦ C) NUMBER(in RHN)
850 76 75 72 74
950 72 70 73 71
1000 70 69 69 69

HARDNESS TEST RESULT:

Hence , the hardness has been decreased by observing the values of
the hardness test . the hardness values are decreased by comparing
with the initial metal due to the decarburization of metal.
 RHN Vs TEMPERATURE ( IN ͦ C)
HARDNESS VALUE (IN RHN )
66

59

55

650 750 800

TEMPERATURE (IN ˚ C )

FIGURE 1: Plot of Rockwell hardness number (RHN) vs. heat treatment

temperatures for the grey cast iron.
 RHN VS TEMPERATURE (IN ͦ C)

74
HARDNESS VALUE (IN RHN )

71

70

850 950 1000

TEMPERATURE (IN ˚ C)

FIGURE 2: Plot of Rockwell hardness vs. heat treatment temperature

for the En 8 material.