New concept carbonitriding from concept to industrialisation

Baumann Jens - Process-Elecktronic GmbH (Germany)

Co-authors: Karl Micheal WINTER, Alexandre FLEURENTIN

More and more studies around the world (Japan, Germany, France, …) demonstrate that the deep carbonitriding process with high nitrogen content improve the contact fatigue life time. This carbonitriding « new concept », characterized by:
- Surface nitrogen content >0.6%,
- Case depth >0.6mm,
- A retained austenite and martensite enriched in nitrogen, is one interesting technical solution to answer at the problematic of the downsizing and the increasing of the applied strength and the temperature of the tribological system.

Several high carbonitriding solutions are available into the heat treatment market, nevertheless it is important to adapt the traditional carbonitriding furnace in order to measure and control the carbon potential and the nitrogen potential independently. These evolutions could assure the quality of this new heat treatment in order to be in phase with the CQi9, RQP1 and NADCAP standards.
This paper will present a new system able to measure and control both, the carbon potential and the nitrogen potential independently, based on the activities of nitrogen and carbon in iron and the effect of alloying elements.

After the description of this « new concept » carbonitriding and these mechanical advantages, this paper will present a new system able to measure and control both, the carbon potential and the nitrogen potential independently. This relation systém could be associated at a supervision which simulates the carbon and nitrogen profiles depending on the heat treatment parameters selected.

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