Dissemination of IT for the Promotion of Materials Science (DoITPoMS)

DoITPoMS Micrograph Library Full Record for Micrograph 284
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Full Record for Micrograph 284

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Micrograph no
284
Brief description
Fe, C 0.2 (wt%) steel, case hardened
Keywords
alloy Link to MATTER Glossary entry for alloy, carbon, carburisation Link to MATTER Glossary entry for carburisation, iron, metal, steel Link to MATTER Glossary entry for steel
Categories
Metal or alloy
System
Fe-C-X   Link to phase diagram
Composition
Fe, C 0.2 (wt%)
Standard codes
Reaction
Processing
Case hardened
Applications
Sample preparation
Nital
Technique
Reflected light microscopy
Length bar
100 μm
Further information
After initial casting of this steel it was subject to a process known as carburisation. The metal is heated to above the ferrite-austenite transition in a carbon atmosphere. This establishes a concentration gradient and hence carbon diffuses into the steel. Usually the steel is then hardened by quenching. This produces what is known as a case hardened steel - with a hard surface (case) surrounding a tough core. This micrograph has been taken from the bulk of the sample, showing that carbon does not diffuse significantly into the interior of a case hardened steel.
Contributor
Dr R F Cochrane
Organisation
Department of Materials, University of Leeds
Date
04/09/02
Licence for re-use
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
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