Metal Science and Heat Treatment

Vol. 45, Nos. 1 2, 2003

UDC 621.785.533

USE OF DOUBLE THERMOCHEMICAL TREATMENT

IN THE PRODUCTION OF TOOLS FROM STRUCTURAL STEELS
L. P. Karpov1
Translated from Metallovedenie i Termicheskaya Obrabotka Metallov, No. 1, pp. 7 8, January, 2003.

It is shown that double thermochemical treatment (nitrocarburizing and nitriding) with subsequent heat treatment can be used for the production of cutting tools from alloy structural steels instead of tool steels. A process
for treating milling cutters from steel 38Kh2MYuA and blades from steel 0KhN3MA is suggested.

with cooling in oil, 2-h cold treatment at 60C, and lowtemperature tempering at 180 200C. As a result, we obtained a diffusion sublayer 0.81 mm thick, a top nitrided
layer 0.37 mm thick, and a 1 2-point carbide network (nuclei). The diffusion layer was not brittle.
The advantages of the double thermochemical treatment
relative to ordinary nitrocarburizing and heat treatment consisted in the enhanced hardness of the diffusion layer (the
surface hardness was 895 HV and 759 HV respectively) and
the enhanced relative heat resistance (1.47 and 1.18 respectively). The relative heat resistance was determined in terms
of the ratio of the hardness of the diffusion layer to the hardness of the core before and after heating to 500C. The double TCT provided a higher wear resistance of specimens after
the diffusion layer was removed by the rotating abrasive paper of a Neris machine.
The hardness of the surface layer of the cutters was
62 HRC at a core hardness of 51 53 HRC. The impact hardness of specimens with diffusion layer over two adjacent
faces (without the concentrator slot) KCU = 0.50
0.56 MJ/m2. The cutters had a high strength in operation.

INTRODUCTION
The use of alloy tool steels for the production of cutters
is often limited because of their scarceness and the presence
of metallurgical defects, in particular, of carbide inhomogeneity. Structural steels are used for such purposes with
thermochemical treatment of the surface. It can be found
in [1] that ... according to preliminary estimates nitriding
hardening should be applicable to carburized steels. In this
connection we will consider the possibility of nitriding after
nitrocarburizing for hardening tools.
METHODS OF STUDY
We subjected some tools to low-temperature nitrocarburizing in a liquid carburizer (triethanolamine) [2], which did
not produce a carbide network in the diffusion layer, after
preliminarily testing the method on steels 20, 20Kh, and
20KhN3A. The nitriding was performed in an OK6 furnace
at 500 520C with a hold of 40 h. The TCT was followed
by quenching, cold treatment, and tempering.
MILLING CUTTERS FROM STEEL 38Kh2MYuA

BLADES FROM STEEL 0KhN3MA

Milling cutters 24 mm thick and 100 mm in diameter

were produced from steel 38Kh2MYuA (GOST 454371).
The cutters for wood, specifically for milling slots in floorboards, were to have a hard core and strong, hard, and wear
resistant teeth. The cutters were nitrocarburized for 15 h at
800C with triethanolamine fed at a rate of 65 drops/min and
then for 2 h at a rate of 45 drops/min. The nitriding was performed for 15 h at 500C and for 25 h at 520C. Then the
cutters were subjected for scale-free hardening from 840C
1

The blades of supershears 16 mm thick for cutting steel

bars up to 20 mm in diameter were produced from steel
0KhN3MA (TU 14-1-1S9776) [3]. The shears were used at
room and negative temperatures. It addition to cutting bars
the shears performed a compression-expansion function
serving as a thruster. Some blades were subjected to 18-h
nitrocarburizing at 800C with feeding of triethanolamine at
a rate of 65 drops/min and then for 2h at a rate of
45 drops/min (variant I ); the other part of blades was treated
for 18 h at 820C and then for 2 h with feeding of triethanol-

Elektrokhimpribor Works, Lesnoy, Sverdlovsk Region, Russia.

8
0026-0673/03/0102-0008$25.00 2003 Plenum Publishing Corporation

Use of Double Thermochemical Treatment in the Production of Tools

amine at a rate of 75 drops/min and 55 drops/min, respectively (variant II ). After nitriding for 15 h at 500C and for
25 h at 520C the blades were heated in molten salt at
820 830C and then hardened in oil. Then they were cold
treated for 2 h at 60C, and tempered at 180 200C for
2 h and then at 500C for 2 2.5 h with cooling in oil. This
treatment produced a diffusion sublayer 0.75 1.0 mm thick
and a top nitrided layer 0.3 0.6 mm thick. In this case the
carbide network was virtually absent (1 point), the observed
carbonitrides were 1 2 points in size (satisfactory), and the
layer was not brittle. The surface hardness was 53 56 HRC.
The core had the following mechanical properties:
sr = 1270 MPa, s0.2 = 1200 MPa, d = 11%, and y = 55%.
The impact toughness KCU of the core at 20C was
0.88 MJ/m2; on specimens with a diffusion layer
KCU = 0.57 MJ/m2 on two faces; at 60C KCU = 0.67 and
0.27 MJ/m2, respectively.
Right after the heat treatment the blades were finished
for providing self-sharpening of the part with the diffusion

layer as described in [3]. The hardness of the hard face was

610 HV and that of the soft face was 547 587 HV at a
core hardness of 389 396 HV.
The blades were tested by cutting bars from steel 20 with
a diameter of 20 mm and showed satisfactory resistance at
60C. After nitrocarburizing by variant I the blades were
used to cut 170 preforms; after treating by variant II they
withstood cutting 428 preforms.
REFERENCES
1. Yu. M. Lakhtin and Ya. D. Kogan, Nitriding of Steels [in Russian], Mashinostroenie, Moscow (1976).
2. L. P. Karpov, Nitrocarburizing of steels with the use of triethanolamine, Metalloved. Term. Obrab. Met., No. 2, 8 11
(1998).
3. L. P. Karpov, Use of nitrocarburizing for providing self-sharpening of tools in the process of operation, Metalloved. Term.
Obrab. Met., No. 6, 16 19 (1999).