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Surface Treating
Fig. 1.
Fuelinjection
nozzle
(Courtesy
of Bosch)
This article describes the newest achievements in the heat treatment of dieselengine fuel-injection nozzles made of hot-working tool steel. Different methods
of improving surface properties have been applied by means of vacuum carburizing
and vacuum nitriding, which is especially suitable for elements characterized by
difficult shape geometry such as blind holes. Variable process parameters have
been considered in terms of sequence and temperature as well as their influence on
surface microstructure, hardness and case-layer uniformity.
Fig. 2. Typical nozzle defects: cracking (left) and abrasive wear (right)
FEATURE | Vacuum/
Surface Treating
C = 10 minutes
C = 4 minutes
C = 4 minutes
C = 2 minutes
D = 70 minutes
D = 40 minutes
D = 20 minutes
D = 6 minutes
1000 m
900
LPC 860
800
700
600
M1
M2
M3
M4
M5
HV550
1000
800
700
600
500
500
400
400
1000
900
800
700
300
M1
M2
M3
M4
M5
HV550
600
LPC 1020
800
700
600
500
400
400
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Depth, mm
M1
M2
M3
M4
M5
HV550
900
500
300
0
1000
HV1
300
0
LPC 920
900
HV1
1000
HV1
LPC Process
Four heat-treating sequences based on
vacuum carburizing were conducted. Carburizing was preceded with prenitriding
using PreNitLPC technology[2] in order
to restrict the growth of austenite grains
at high temperature. The entire process
sequence consisted of: prenitriding, vacuum carburizing (using FineCarb technology[3]) at various temperatures, which
was followed by (direct) quenching in
5-bar nitrogen, deep freezing at -100F for
2 hours and tempering for 2 hours at 390F
(200C).
Carburizing treatments were performed at four temperatures: 1580F
(860C), 1688F (920C), 1742F (950C)
and 1868F (1020C), in each case targeted at 0.60% surface carbon and a predefined case depth of approximately 0.016
inch (0.4 mm).
Total times in the sequence of carburizing and diffusion for individual treatments
were as follows:
Fig. 4. Standard single-chamber vacuum furnace, SECO/WARWICK model 15.0VPT4035/36IQCN Vector Line
HV1
Testing Equipment
A standard SECO/WARWICK Vector Line single-chamber vacuum furnace
model 15.0VPT-4035/36IQCN (Fig. 4) was
utilized for the tests. The working space
was 24 inches high x 36 inches long x 24
inches wide, and it was equipped with LPC
and LPN systems and HPGQ (15 bar).
Carburizing was performed with a gas
mixture of acetylene (C2H2), ethylene
(C2H4) and hydrogen (H2), while ammonia (NH3) was used for nitriding. The
450-pound workload consisted of ballast
rods, among which the tested injection
nozzles were placed. The workload reflected typical conditions found in industrial
heat treatment.
300
M1
M2
M3
M4
M5
HV550
M5
M2
M3
M4
nozzle. The surface hardness was approximately 850 HV at 0.002 inch (0.05 mm),
and the core hardness was 500 HV at the
predefined case-layer depth of 0.014 inch
(0.35 mm) for core hardness + 50 HV.
The LPC 920 treatment yielded a uniform case layer of surface hardness 820
HV and case-layer depth of 0.012 inch
10 m
10 m
10 m
10 m
1000
LPN
900
HV1
800
700
600
Surface
M1
M2
M3
M4
M5
HV550
500
400
300
100 m
Surface hardness
[HV/HRC]
Core hardness
[HV/HRC]
Case depth
[inch]
Case uniformity
LPC 860
850/66
500/49
0.014
good
LPC 920
820/65
590/55
0.012
very good
LPC 950
850/66
620/56
0.014
good
LPC 1020
850/66
680/59
0-0.016
insufficient
LPN
>900/67
530/51
0.007
very good
FEATURE | Vacuum/
Surface Treating
References
1. P. J. Blau, N. Yang, Materials for high pressure fuel injection systems, US Dept. of Energy, poster presentation May 10, 2011
2. Kula, P.; Pietrasik, R.; Dybowski, K.; Korecki,
M.; Olejnik, J. Prenit LPC - the modern technology for automotive, New Challenges. In:
Heat Treatment and Surface Engineering,
Dubrownik-Cavtat, Croatia, 2009, 165-170.
3. Kula, P.; Korecki, M.; Pietrasik, R.; Woowiec,
E.; Dybowski, K.; Koodziejczyk, .; Atraszkiewicz, R.; Krasowski, M. FineCarb - the
flexible system for low pressure carburizing.
New options and performance, The Japan
Society for Heat Treatment 2009, 49 (1),
133-136.
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