• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.402-411
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• 2023

In order to examine the effect of cementite precipitated on the steel surface on the carburizing rate, the carburizing process was carried out at various boost times to measure the mass gain and carbon flux, phase analysis and carbon concentration analysis were performed on the surface of the carburized specimen. In the case of the only boost type, the longer the boost time, the more the mass gain by the diffused carbon follows the parabolic law and tends to increase. In particular, as the boost time increased, the depth of cementite precipitation and the average size of cementite on the steel surface increased. At a boost time of 7 min, the fraction of cementite precipitated on the surface is 7.32 vol.%, and the carburizing rate of carbon into the surface (surface-carbon flux) is about 17.4% compared to the calculated value because the area of the chemical (catalyst) where the carburization reaction takes place is reduced. The measured carbon concentration profile of the carburized specimen tended to be generally lower than the carbon concentration calculated by the model without considering precipitated cementite. On the other hand, in the pulse type, the mass gain by the diffused carbon increased according to the boost time following a linear law. At a boost time of 7 min, the fraction of cementite precipitated on the surface was 3.62 vol.%, and the surface-carbon flux decreased by about 4.1% compared to the calculated value. As a result, a model for predicting the actual carbon flux was presented by applying the carburization resistace coefficient derived from the surface cementite fraction as a variable.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.226-231
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• 2012

Characteristics of carburized surface layers in 0.18C-3.5Ni-1.5Cr-0.2Mo steels for main shaft bearings of wind turbines have been analyzed and evaluated before and after rolling contact fatigue tests. Mixed microstructure consisting of retained austenite and tempered martensite has been formed with compressive residual stresses in the surface hardened layers of the specimens showing uniform hardness distribution with value about Hv700 after vacuum carburizing and tempering. It has been found on the raceway of the layers of the specimens after rolling contact fatigue tests that the amount of retained austenite decreased and compressive residual stresses increased, resulting from cyclic contact stresses applied during the tests. It has been also revealed that higher durability of the bearings can be obtained through controlling the amount of the retained austenite in the surface of the bearing steels to be lower in this study.