What is surface hardening

What is surface hardening

Wear resistance and indentation resistance are very important qualities of metal. Therefore, hardness is an important consideration when deciding which metal to choose. In order to ensure that the hardness of metal products is appropriate, the surface hardening process is often used to change the surface hardness.

Case hardening is a technique for improving the durability and appearance of metal surfaces by adding a thin layer to the upper surface of another metal alloy to strengthen the metal surface while keeping the interior of the part relatively soft.

For low carbon iron or steel, case hardening usually involves adding additional carbon or nitrogen to the surface. When carbon diffuses from the carbonaceous material on the surface of mild steel or alloy steel into the crystal structure, the strength and hardness of the outer layer increases dramatically. The depth of the shell through which carbon diffuses can be finely controlled to determine the mechanical properties of the shell.

There are many reasons for not hardening the entire metal material, but only the surface:

1. Efficiency. The time required to heat a surface is much less than that of heating a whole piece of metal, which can save a lot of costs in large-scale manufacturing.

2. Surface-hardened parts are more resistant to wear, because surface-hardened parts are ideal for parts that are often in contact with hard or abrasive parts. They are usually stronger than integrally hardened parts, and the core of surface-hardened parts is softer.

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