Case hardening steel Page 1 of 5

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Molybdenum uses

Case-hardening steel
A tough core and a hard case are the desired attributes of case-hardened steel components. This
combination of properties provides wear resistance and fatigue strength at the surface, and impact
strength in the core. It is achieved by carburizing the component’s surface, then quenching and
tempering the part. Carburized components include gears of all kind, camshafts, universal joints,
driving pinions, link components, axles and arbours. All these components must resist wear and
fatigue, have inherent toughness, and still be machinable.

Typical applications include

◾ Transportation: Case-hardened components are needed in any engine-driven vehicle,

whether it's a small car, a racecar, a truck or an ocean vessel.
◾ Energy generation: Gear wheels and large components have to withstand cyclic stress and
wear in hydroelectric power stations, wind-turbine generators, propeller drives of drilling rigs
and steam-turbine gears of power stations.
◾ General mechanical engineering: General mechanical engineering: Applications in this area
include forging presses, metal rolling equipment, machine tools; drivelines of mining
equipment and heavy-duty transmissions; earthmoving equipment and heavy-duty
construction cranes. Wear resistance and good fatigue strength are always key characteristics
of the case-hardened steels used for these applications.

Everything that moves needs case-hardened gears

During carburisation, the component is heated in a carbon-releasing medium to a temperature

where the steel is completely austenitic. Carbon’s solubility is much higher in austenite than in
ferrite, which allows carbon to pass through the steel surface and diffuse into the component.
Carburization can increase the surface carbon content up to 0.7%. Controlling the time at
temperature allows control of the depth to which the carbon diffuses, and thus the thickness of the
“case.” It also allows the carbon content of the core to remain at about 0.25%. An important
microstructural goal during carburisation is a stable, uniformly fine-grained austenite. A uniform
austenite grain size results in low distortion after heat treatment, while a fine austenite grain size
improves fatigue resistance and toughness.

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Q uenching from the carburising temperature and subsequent tempering of the component produces
a high-carbon martensite having great hardness and wear resistance near the surface. The
uncarburised core retains its original good strength and toughness properties.
The selection of appropriate alloying elements permits precise control of hardenability from the
surface to the core. (See F igure 1 for an example of a J ominy curve used to assess hardenability.)
The appropriate steel depends on the size of the part to be treated, since it is a goal to produce a
strong, tough, tempered martensite structure in the core.

tandard case hardening steels

E E TM lloy content
r Mo ther
Mn r teel
20MnCr5 51 20 0.1 7-0.22 1 .0-1 .3 1 .1 -1 .4 Mn
CrMo Steel
20MoCr4 0.1 7-0.23 0.3 -0.6
20CrMo5 8 6 20 0.1 8 -0.23 1 .1 -1 .4
i rMo teel
20N iCrMo 6 -4 0.1 6 -0.23 0.6 -0.9 1 .4 -1 .7 N i
1 8 CrN iMo7-6 0.1 5-0.21 1 .5-1 .8 1 .4 -1 .7 N i
1 4 N iCrMo1 3 -4 0.1 1 -0.1 7 0.8 -1 .1 3 .0-3 .5N i
1 7N iCrMo 6 -5 0.1 4 -0.20 0.8 -1 .1 1 .2-1 .5N i
Table 1 : Standard case-hardening steels

Molybdenum (0.1 5 - 0.50%) is used in carburising steels to increase the hardenability of the low-
carbon core and toughen the high-carbon case at the same time. It is especially effective in large
cross sections like those of wind-turbine gears. Molybdenum is not oxidised during carburisation, so
it does not cause increased surface cracking and spalling. This also means it is not lost by reaction,
but remains present in the alloy to provide effective hardening.

Wind power – a major driver for carburising steel development

Gears used in large wind turbines are subject to extreme loads at the flanks and toes of their teeth,
especially when sudden changes in wind speed or hard stops occur. A hard case and tough core
result in a more wear-resistant gear capable of handling high impact loads. Wind-turbine gearboxes
are designed to minimize mechanical noise for quiet operation, but gear noise increases during life
due to abrasion of gear tooth surfaces. Increasing the surface hardness and abrasion resistance of
gears will thus decrease gearbox noise. The hard case/tough core combination possessed by
carburized gears is of advantage in this regard. The low-alloy steels generally used for case-
hardening processes (e.g. 20MnCr5) are not applicable when long fatigue life and high toughness
are required. H igh-performance N iCrMo case-carburizing steels provide deep hardening ability and
possess high fatigue resistance. Currently, the grade 1 8 CrN iMo7-6 is the standard gear steel for
windmill gearboxes. With respect to further optimizing carburizing steels for large and heavily
loaded gears, the following priorities can be defined:

◾ Increased core tensile strength and toughness

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Case hardening steel Page 3 of 5

◾ H igher fatigue strength in both core and case

◾ Improved hardenability
◾ L ow distortion upon quenching
◾ Improved properties at elevated service temperatures.

Several sources of property degradation must be attacked to accomplish these goals. Intergranular
oxidation in the carburized layer can initiate fatigue fracture, reducing the fatigue strength of the
tooth. It also causes a soft zone near the surface of the carburized layer. Eliminating anomalies in
surface structure is thus an important goal in the development of gears with high fatigue strength.
R aising the tempering temperature improves toughness, but requires increased tempering
resistance in order not to lose strength. The initial approach to implement these improvements is to
adjust the steel’s chemical composition, using the following guidelines:

◾ P revent intergranular oxidation → reduce Si, Mn, and Cr.

◾ Improve hardenability → increase Mo.
◾ Improve toughness → increase N i and Mo.
◾ R efine and homogenize grain size → balance N b, Ti, Al and N microalloying additions.
◾ Strengthen grain boundaries → reduce P and S.

The case hardness can be increased further by forming a dispersion of ultra-hard Mo and N b
carbides. This will offer a better mechanical support to the carburized case or a potential hard
surface coating. Simply raising the bulk carbon content would of course also raise the hardenability,
but this approach sacrifices toughness.

F igure 1 shows the effect of compositional modifications on the hardenability of a 0.1 8 % C

reference carburizing steel (1 8 CrN iMo7-6 ). The powerful effect of adding carbide formers is
apparent. In this figure, the solid line shows the hardenability of the reference steel. R aising the N i
content and lowering Mo (bottom dashed line) raises core toughness by promoting bainite
formation, but decreases case hardness by increasing the fraction of retained austenite after
carburization. Alloying with a combination of Mo and special carbide formers (top dashed line)
raises the hardness of the component uniformly, and increases the case hardness above the basic
hardness of 0f 0.1 8 % C steel (dotted line).

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Case hardening steel Page 4 of 5

F igure 1 . J ominy test results on two modified 1 8 CrN iMo7-6 (solid line) steels, showing how Mo additions can
improve the performance of windmill gearboxes.

After the carburized component is quenched, it is tempered to improve toughness. H igher

tempering temperatures produce higher toughness with a corresponding loss in hardness and
strength. The choice of tempering temperature must therefore balance these conflicting effects.

Case hardness and strength decrease rapidly when standard carburising steels are tempered
above 1 8 0 ° C. B ecause of this, critical applications restrict maximum operating temperatures to
1 20-1 6 0 ° C, and gear cooling becomes important. B y significantly increasing the Mo content, and
with an optional N b addition, the steel’s tempering resistance is greatly enhanced. F igure 2 shows
the effect of adding 2% Mo instead of the standard 0.25%. The increased Mo content produces a
surface hardness of more than 700 H V (6 0 H R C), even after tempering at 3 00° C.

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Case hardening steel Page 5 of 5

F igure 2. The effect of Mo additions on the case hardness of a quenched and tempered N iCrMo steel.

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