Session Details

Session 2: Metal Finishing: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract Number:

29

The audience is anyone that uses stainless steel in an application ‎that requires a coating or ‎additional treatment to help it survive ‎certain conditions. Applicable job roles are someone involved ‎‎with the design, manufacture, engineering, or quality control of ‎stainless steel components.‎

Topics:

Advances in Surface Finishing Technology
General Surface ‎Finishing

Austenitic and duplex stainless steels are often the material of choice when it comes to ‎applications ‎in corrosive environments. While the excellent corrosion resistance makes them ‎a favorable choice, ‎poor tribological behavior, especially low abrasive / adhesive wear ‎resistance and a tendency to ‎fretting, has prevented a broader use of these materials in ‎applications where both corrosion and ‎wear resistance are required. For more than 20 years ‎low temperature carburizing has offered a ‎solution to enhance mechanical properties ‎without altering the corrosion resistance. This thermo-‎chemical diffusion process forms a ‎carbon S-phase while avoiding carbide precipitation that causes ‎sensitization.‎

Due to the addition of large concentrations of carbon atoms, high compressive stresses are ‎formed at ‎the surface. These compressive stresses along with occupation of the interstitial ‎sites by carbon ‎atoms cause an increase in the surface hardness of the material and ‎improved mechanical ‎properties.‎

The purpose of this technical discuss is to provide a brief introduction into this technology. A ‎more ‎detailed review follows on the commercially available low temperature carburizing ‎treatment known ‎as Kolsterising®, and discusses the mechanical benefits on galling ‎behavior, wear resistance, ‎cavitation erosion, and fatigue strength.‎