V o l . 38 N o .

2 A u g u s t 2005

Advanced Acetylene Vacuum Carburizing

IWATA Hitoshi : Director, General Manager, JH Corporation

The vacuum carburizing process was introduced in the 1970’s, and the expected advantages were carburizing
time reduction, high quality, and pollution-free. However, the process with propane gas was not approved in the
field due to heavy sooting. The vacuum carburizing process with acetylene gas was developed seven years ago,
and the sooting problem is now solved. The new technology, called the acetylene vacuum carburizing process,
is now applied in various fields for mass production. The recent results of quality are reported in this paper.

1. Introduction process could be used with saturated stage and diffusion

About 30 years have passed since the first introduction
of the vacuum carburizing process, which has attracted
attention as a replacement technology for conventional
gas carburizing. This process has the following major
characteristics.
(1) High-temperature carburizing for a short time
(2) The prevention of grain boundary oxidization
(3) Easy control of the case depth
(4) Easy carburize of complex shapes such as thin
holes, blind holes or the like
(5) Gentle working environment for people and earth
Many manufacturers competed to make use of the
vacuum carburizing process, mainly using methane or
propane gas. The major problem with vacuum carburizing
with propane gas was the formation of soot, which led
to big problems. About 7 years have passed since
acetylene vacuum carburizing process was applied for
mass production. This solved the problem of soot
formation which were affected the conventional vacuum
carburizing using propane gas, and the quality and
repeatability obtained by acetylene carburizing, was
quite satisfactory, and this new process has been running
at various kind of mass productions and applications.
The most important reason why acetylene vacuum
carburizing succeeded in solving the problem of soot
formation was that the carburizing gas, acetylene gas,
is used under very low pressure (less than 1 kPa). A
pressure of 1 kPa is within the pressure range used for
general vacuum heat treatment. JH Corporation developed
a carburizing process at this normal vacuum pressure
range that is generally used, and was the first
manufacturer to solve the problem of soot formation,
either in Japan or the world. The current state of the
quality and economic efficiency obtained from acetylene
vacuum carburizing furnaces used in production is
described below.(1),(2)
2. The vacuum carburizing basics
2.1 Controlling the case depth
It was discovered that the acetylene vacuum carburizing
stage, in the same way as with propane gas vacuum
carburizing. In this process, carburizing continue during
the period in which the carburizing gas is backfilled,
until a concentration of carbon at which a solid solution
begins to form is reached in the equilibrium diagram.
The concentration of the carbon in the case is then
controlled using vacuum diffusion. If the carburizing
temperature is fixed, it is possible to obtain a target
carbon content and case depth for the surface by
controlling the carburizing time and diffusion time.
This is one of the features of vacuum carburizing. If
the carburizing temperature is raised, the carburizing
time can be shortened substantially, making carburizing
more economical. Gas carburizing furnaces are thought
to have a maximum temperature of 960˚C or so. Above
this, while there should be a reduction in carburizing
time, the furnace is severely damaged, making the total
cost of high-temperature carburizing uneconomical. In
contrast, the structure of a vacuum carburizing furnace
is essentially the same as an ordinary vacuum furnace,
so it can withstand temperatures of 1 100˚C or over.
This means that the normal carburizing temperature is
not restricted to a level of around 930˚C, but can be
freely chosen from a higher temperature range. If a
deep case is required, or high grade steel (for example,
stainless steel) is being carburized, high temperature
carburizing can substantially reduce the carburizing
time.
2.2 Control the carburizing time and diffusion
time
As soon as the temperature has reach the temperature
and the all parts of the furnace are exposed to vacuum
atmosphere, the carburizing gas (acetylene) is introduced.
The furnace reaches the predetermined pressure within
several seconds and every part of the work area is
uniformly exposed to the decompressed carburizing
atmosphere. In a very short time, Fe3C precipitates at
the surface and carburizing begin.(3) After the carburizing
gas has been supplied for the prescribed time, the gas
is purged to restore the furnace to its initial vacuum
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 V o l . 38 N o . 2 A u g u s t 2005

pressure, and diffusion is performed. The total carburizing
time, carburizing time and diffusion is set based on
Table 1. SCM415 was carburized using acetylene gas
at a range of temperatures for the predetermined time,
and the obtained case was subjected to carbon analysis.
The effective case depth was set at 0.3% carbon and
0.4% carbon, and the carburizing constant K was
determined for each depth and total carburizing time.
Table 1 shows the results of this. If vacuum carburizing
is used, the carbon content, when carburizing is
completed, is the saturated value in the equilibrium
diagram (Fig. 1), that is, when the carbon content
becomes constant. The surface carbon content found was
directly proportional to the carburizing time and diffusion
time, giving a value for R. Similar tests were performed
on S15C and SNCM420 as well as SCM415, but the
values of K obtained were almost the same for all
materials. The alloy elements affect hardenability rather
than easy to carburizing.
2.3 Quenching
After carburizing and diffusion have been completed,
and when the soaking time for quenching is over, the
furnace is backfilled to about 80 kPa {600 Torr} with
nitrogen gas, and oil-quenching is continued. The cooling
characteristics of the quenching oil can be altered by
setting the pressure to which the furnace is backfilled
Table 1 Carburizing constant K and R value
Carburizing
Surface carbon temperature 900℃ 930℃ 980℃ 1 040℃
content 0.8%
Total case depth 0.62 0.71
K Effective case depth for
0.3% carbon 0.44 0.54
Effective case depth for
0.4% carbon 0.37 0.46
Diffusion time Td
R 1.3 1.5
Carburizing time Tc
(Note) Case depth : Calculated by D = K T (mm)
Calculated by Th = Tc + Td ，R = Td /Tc
1 200
Soaking at carburizing γ
temperature Carburize
1 100 Increase of case depth
1 000 Partial pressure of CmHn ˙ Carburizing (Tc)
Decrease to austenitizing Diffuse at
900 temperature vacuum
Soaking at austenitizing (Td)
Temperature (˚C)
to different values, so a feature of this quenching is
that it is possible to obtain the optimum conditions for
quenching distortions and also the hardenability.
However, if the pressure upon the oil is too low, the
quenching oil will not have enough cooling ability,
leading to slack quenching. Recently, devices have been
made to ensure that the optimum hardenability and
optimum distortion for each material is obtained.
High pressure gas quenching from 10 to 30 bar is
reported recently. This process places some restrictions
on the charge weight and the loading figure, however
this process is effective for relatively small works made
of alloy steel with good hardenability. If you have to
make grain size fine, which is coarsened by high-
temperature carburizing, gas cooling is recommended
after diffusion is completed, and the work basket is
transferred from heating chamber to quench chamber
to heat the soaking temperature, and then oil-quenching
should be performed.
3. Quality of vacuum carburizing applied
to mass production
3.1 Case uniformity
At present, acetylene vacuum carburizing is applied for
many mass production parts. An examination was
performed to find the variation within lots and the
variation between lots of case depth of automotive parts
(using materials including SCM, SCr, and SNCM). It
was found to be within ±0.05 mm (a width variation
Applications of within 0.1 mm) for ordinary carburizing depths of
Low carbon steel and 0.5 to 0.8 mm. It was found that a variation of carburized
1.14 1.24 case-hardening steel depth within a single work of within 0.1 mm can be
0.78 1.04 Case-hardening steel obtained with the standard carburizing cycle, both for
general-purpose parts such as general gears and for
0.69 0.94 Low carbon steel
complex shapes such as diesel nozzles (Table 2). The
2.2 3.5 Low carbon steel variation within a lot of the surface carbon content of
automotive gears was investigated. The results of this
investigation are shown in Table 3. From this table, it
was verified that a surface carbon content of the set
value ±0.05% can be obtained very easily, presenting
no problems at all for practical use. It was thus found
m that the uniformity within lots and between lots of
Ac
acetylene vacuum carburizing is not inferior to gas
carburizing. The metallurgical structure obtained is free
of intergranular oxidization layers, and has a normal

temperature γ + Fe3C
800 carburized, quenched structure.
α+γ
3.2 Brightness of works
700
Oil quenching ˙ It was found that with acetylene vacuum carburizing,
Heat up in N2 gas cooling
600 vacuum
Table 2 Process capability of case depth
α + Fe3C
500
Position No. 1 2 — 26 27 X R Cpk
Surface hardness HV 758 768 — 749 742 757 34 2.3
Loading the work basket Removal of work basket Total case depth (mm) 0.64 0.69 — 0.72 0.67 0.69 0.08 1.9
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 (Note) X : Mean value, R : Variation, Cpk : Process capability index,
C (%) Specification : Total depth of hardened layer, 0.70 ±0.05 mm,
Material : SCM420H, Layers of basket : 7 layers,
Weight : 30 g/piece, 8 000 pieces
Fig. 1 Equilibrium diagram and carburizing basics

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Table 3 Uniformity of surface carbon contents
Position of furnace Front side
4 0.79
3 0.79
Number
of 2 0.79
layers
1 0.83
Mean value 0.83
Variation and
variation of width 0.78 – 0.85%C, 0.07%C
Work Gear SCM420H
Case depth Effective case depth 0.8 mm
(Note) Units : Carbon content wt%
Measurement : Emission spectroscopy
a very bright finish is produced on the surface, and in
the case of some parts, a very beautiful finish is produced.
For this reason, the postprocessing plating process
requires little work, and indeed some users ship some
of their products with the surface as-is after carburization.
It is thought that the reason for this is the increase of
surface activity due to the low vacuum pressure used
in the acetylene vacuum carburizing process, which is
the same as the pressure used in ordinary vacuum heat
treatment.
4. Acetylene vacuum carburizing
technology applied to mass production
4.1 Vacuum carbonitriding
It was found that if ammonia gas was introduced during
acetylene vacuum carburizing, nitrogen gas dissolved
into an alpha phase to form a solid solution, producing
a nitriding effect. This is widely applied to the production
of automotive parts. A typical acetylene vacuum
carbonitriding process is shown in Fig. 2. The
concentration of the solid solution nitrogen on the
surface is proportional to the flow rate of ammonia, and
so the amount of solid solution nitrogen can be controlled
stably by changing the flow rate of the ammonia. This
was found to be useful in improving the basic
performance. The high temperature strength was kept,
Rear side
the fatigue strength improved, and other advanced
0.81
functions of the material obtained using a combination
0.78
of heat treatment with supercarburizing, described in
0.78
the next section. The details of how to operate the
0.85
super-carbonitriding process and the carbonitriding
process for case-hardened steel are currently the subject
of investigation. It has been reported that mechanical
properties can be improved somewhat by adding shot
peening to the carbonitriding treatment, and developments
in this area are anticipated.(4)
4.2 Vacuum supercarburizing
In supercarburizing, carbides are precipitated very finely,
but there were many problems with using this process at
conventional gas carburizing. However, supercarburizing
is easy for operation with acetylene vacuum carburizing.
It has been applied to a wide range of automotive parts,
machine tool parts, mold parts, and other mass production
parts, which can be produce with satisfactory quality
for such as the size and shape of carbides in the
carburized layer and the precipitate layer, greatly
contributing to improving wear durability and fatigue
strength. Typical examples of use are shown in Fig. 3
and 4. Improvements in performance have been
confirmed in machine tool parts, shot blast machine parts,
and general machine parts. In some products, the life
of parts are improved more than twice the value produced
(a) Heat treatment cycles (b) Loading figure
950˚C
850˚C 850˚C
Carburizing Spheroidizing Quenching
Fig. 3 Typical operation of supercarburizing

(a) Heat treatment cycles for vacuum carbonitriding (b) Hardness distribution
900
Diffusion & nitride
880˚C
800
780˚C
Soaking Carburiz- Oil quenching
ing 700
C2H2 NH3 NH3 NH3 80˚C
Hardness HV*1

8 l/min 600
25 l/min
500
45 75 30 20 (45) 30 20

400
N2
Furnace pressure

46 kPa
{350 Torr} 300
NH3

0.5 N2 200
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
Distance from surface (mm)
Time (min) (Note) Material : SUM24L
Effective case depth : 0.3 - 0.5 mm
Process capability index : Cpk 1.58
*1 : Load 0.3 kg

Fig. 2 Typical vacuum carbonitriding process

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V o l . 38 N o . 2 A u g u s t 2005

(a) After gas cooling (carburizing is completed) (b) After quenching and tempering

(Note) Material : SNCM220

Effective case depth : 1.20 mm
Fig. 4 Microstructure of supercarburizing

by supercarburizing using conventional gas carburizing
has been attained, and the process is expected to be
applied widely to parts for which wear resistance is
essential. Investigations into how to perform
supercarbonitriding to improve high temperature fatigue
strength and seizure resistance are underway.
4.3 Carburizing of stainless steel
Stainless steels are good at resisting corrosion, and
many attempts have been made to find methods for
carburizing them, to increase their wear resistance and
add advanced functions to them. However, as there
were restrictions on the equipment that could be used,
carburizing processes for stainless steels were not
popular. It was found that if acetylene vacuum
carburizing is used, there is no restriction on temperature,
and carburizing can even take place at temperatures of
1 000˚C or over without problems. The hardness
distribution, microstructure and loading figure of an
automobile part subjected to acetylene vacuum
carburizing are shown in Fig. 5.
5. Fully-automatic vacuum carburizing
furnaces
An installation in general gas carburizing heat treatment
factory is shown in Fig. 6 as an example of a vacuum
carburizing furnace installed in a factory, and an
installation of a furnace as part of a new vacuum heat
treatment factory is shown in Fig. 7. In both cases, the
cycle of “pre-degrease → carburizing → post-degrease
→ tempering” proceeds full automatically under
computer control, with equipment consisting of vacuum
carburizing furnaces, a tempering furnace and vacuum
degreaser. All the processes up to the tempering stage
are fully automatic. The furnaces were originally batch-
type furnaces, but it was made possible to operate them
fully automatically by controlling the carburizing heat
treatment patterns, and many customers now use them
in full-automation.
In 2003, to increase the production capacity of these
batch type furnaces, JH Corporation developed a
continuous vacuum carburizing furnace. This furnace,
called the V-MALS furnace, can accommodate up to
four heating chambers which share a oil tank to increase
the throughput of equipment. This continuous vacuum
carburizing furnace can be adapted to the mass production
of both wide ranges of products and narrow ranges of
products, and is flexible, allowing added heating
chambers to adapt to production conditions. This has
recently been used to add a second oil tank instead of
a heating chamber. An add-on convection heating

(a) Hardness distribution (b) Microstructure after carburizing (c) Loading figure
300 µ
900 : No.1
: No.2
800 : No.3
700 : No.4
: No.5
Hardness HV

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
0.01 0.06 0.15 0.30 0.60 0.90
(Note) Material : SUS304
Distance from surface (mm) Carburizing : 1 050 ˚C

Fig. 5 Carburizing of stainless steel SUS304

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Vacuum carburizing furnace Vacuum carburizing furnace Vacuum carburizing furnace

No.1 No.2 No.3

Control Control Control

panel panel panel

Stock conveyor belt Stock conveyor belt Stock conveyor belt

Vacuum degreaser Tempering furnace No.1 Tempering furnace No.2

Transport cart

Control panel
Control panel Control panel

Central panel Input conveyor

Output conveyor

Fig. 6 Full automatic vacuum carburizing furnace (3 furnaces)

Central panel
Output lifter Vacuum pumps Input lifter

Vacuum pumps

Control
Control panel
panel

Output Input
conveyor conveyor

Output Control
conveyors panel
Input
conveyors

Hydraulic unit Stock conveyor belt Hydraulic unit

HWBV-3V VCB-242648 Transport
Tempering furnace Vacuum degreaser Vacuum carburizing furnace cart

Fig. 7 Full automatic vacuum carburizing furnace (2 furnaces)

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(a) Overall appearance (b) Heating chamber and oil tank of soot. The quality obtained was found to be no lower
than that of the gas carburizing method. The problem
of carbide precipitation in corners has been solved, the
safety of acetylene gas has been verified, and safety
and stability during operation has been considered, from
many different viewpoints. The author intends to solve
the remaining problems with the process and equipment,
make improvements where possible, and enhance and
develop the acetylene vacuum carburizing process to
Fig. 8 Typical V-MALS continuous vacuum carburizing furnace
overall be an energy-saving carburizing process that is gentle
to the environment and people.

Table 4 Specification of V-MALS continuous vacuum carburizing — Acknowledgments —

furnace
Oil tank Example of treatment The author thanks Mr. Okumura of Denso Corp. and
Number
Power Case depth 0.5 mm Case depth 1.0 mm
of Oil Number Mr. Matsui of Isuzu Motors Limited for their valuable
heating supply capacities of Time Loading weight Time
chamber (kW) (l) furnaces per per hour per Loading weight advice during the preparation of this article.
action action per hour
Approx.
1 150 5 200 1 3.5 185 5.0 130 REFERENCES
Approx.
2 260 5 200 1 1.75 370 2.5 260
(1) K. Kubota, N. Yamamoto, H. Iwata and K.
Approx.
3 370 5 200 1 1.17 550 1.67 370 Ishikawa : High Quality, Vacuum Carburizing
Approx. Process with Acetylene, The Japan Society for Heat
4 480 5 200 1 0.88 740 1.25 520
Treatment, The 43th Lecture Rally Outline
Collection 1996 pp.3-4
chamber can also be installed to shorten treatment time. (2) M. Sugiyama, K. Ishikawa and H. Iwata : Vacuum
A picture of the V-MALS type continuous vacuum Carburizing with Acetylene, Proceedings of 18th
carburizing furnace is shown in Fig. 8, and its major ASM Heat Treating Society Conference (1998.10)
specifications are shown in Table 4. pp.29-33
(3) N. Okumura : Vacuum Carburizing Process by
6. Conclusion Acetylene, Heat Treatment Vol.38 pp.194-197
Seven years have passed since the first use on a (4) H. Eto, K. Matsui, Y. Kami and Yann Syou Tyun
production line of vacuum carburizing using acetylene, : Influence of Retained Austenite, Processing
an unsaturated hydrocarbon gas. This method succeeded Generation Martensite, and Stress by Shot Peening
in solving fundamental problems with the conventional to Compressive Residual Stress, Series A,
vacuum carburizing using propane (JH Corporation), Transaction of the Japan Society of Mechanical
namely, the various problems related to the formation Engineers No.69-680 pp.37-44

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