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Full Record for Micrograph 288
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- Micrograph no
- 288
- Brief description
- Fe, C 0.15 (wt%) steel, carburised
- Keywords
- alloy
, carbon, carburisation , iron, metal, steel - Categories
- Metal or alloy
- System
- Fe-C-X
- Composition
- Fe, C 0.15 (wt%)
- Standard codes
- Reaction
- Processing
- Case hardened
- Applications
- Sample preparation
- Nital
- Technique
- Reflected light microscopy
- Length bar
- 200 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-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales- Related micrographs