Effect of some variables on the carburization of a locally produced steel

Abstract

The effects of carburizing time, temperature and percentage energizer on the case-depth and hardness of a steel ST37-2 have been studied. For carburizing medium consisting of hardwood charcoal and coke and various amount of sodium carbonate as energizer, increasing carburizing time and temperature increased both the depth and hardness of the case. Increasing both the amount of energizer and carburizing time lowered the activation energy for the carburization process. The average hardness of the carburized layer decreased with tempering. Two processes are found to be operative during carburizing; one which is strongly activation energy dependent and the other which is mildly dependent on activation energy.