Gas carburizing has been around for a long time. One could argue that gas carburizing is the most common heat treating process. Heat treaters performing gas carburizing are often characterized by a dirty environment, hazy surroundings, and that “smell.” While the product quality may be acceptable, gas carburized parts do come with some challenges, like excessive intergranular oxidation (IGO) or intergranular attack (IGA), which is often ground off. Low-pressure carburizing (LPC) has proven to be a much cleaner and very capable alternative process. Most furnace companies have combined LPC with high pressure gas quenching, which moved carburizing from the dark back room to a relatively “clean room” environment. However, there is still a strong need for oil quenching, which is the common feature of the long used standard integral-quench (IQ) furnace.
Suppliers are working hard to make
sure their heat treating equipment is controllable, repeatable and efficient,
and manufacturers continue to incorporate technology that gives heat treaters and their customers more information about what's going on inside the magic box.
This paper presents how low pressure carburizing and high pressure gas quenching processes are successfully applied on internal ring gears for a six-speed automatic transmission. The specific challenge in the heat treat process was to reduce distortion in such a way that subsequent machining operations are entirely eliminated.
High demands for cost-effectiveness and improved product quality can be achieved via a new low pressure
carburizing process with high pressure gas quenching. Up to 50% of the heat treatment time can be saved. Furthermore, the distortion of the gear parts could be reduced because of gas quenching, and grinding costs could be saved. This article gives an overview of the principles of the process technology and the required furnace technology. Also, some examples of practical applications
are presented.