Technological Features for Controlling Steel Part Quality Parameters by the Method of Electrospark Alloying Using Carburezer Containing Nitrogen-Carbon Components

Oksana P Gaponova; Viacheslav B Tarelnyk; Bogdan Antoszewski; Norbert Radek; Nataliia V Tarelnyk; Piotr Kurp; Oleksandr M Myslyvchenko; Jacek Hoffman

doi:10.3390/ma15176085

Technological Features for Controlling Steel Part Quality Parameters by the Method of Electrospark Alloying Using Carburezer Containing Nitrogen-Carbon Components

Materials (Basel). 2022 Sep 2;15(17):6085. doi: 10.3390/ma15176085.

Authors

Oksana P Gaponova¹, Viacheslav B Tarelnyk², Bogdan Antoszewski³, Norbert Radek³, Nataliia V Tarelnyk², Piotr Kurp³, Oleksandr M Myslyvchenko⁴, Jacek Hoffman⁵

Affiliations

¹ Applied Material Science and Technology of Constructional Materials Department, Sumy State University, 40007 Sumy, Ukraine.
² Technical Service Department, Sumy National Agrarian University, H. Kondratiieva Str., 160, 40021 Sumy, Ukraine.
³ Laser Research Centre, Faculty of Mechatronics and Mechanical Engineering, Kielce University of Technology, Al. Tysiąclecia P.P. 7, 25-314 Kielce, Poland.
⁴ Physical Chemistry of Inorganic Materials Department, I. M. Frantsevich Institute for Problems in Materials Science, 04060 Kyiv, Ukraine.
⁵ Department of Experimental Mechanics, Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Pawińskiego 5B, 02-016 Warsaw, Poland.

Abstract

A new method of surface modification based on the method of electrospark alloying (ESA) using carburizer containing nitrogen-carbon components for producing coatings is considered. New processes have been proposed that include the step of applying saturating media in the form of paste-like nitrogenous and nitrogenous-carbon components, respectively, onto the surface without waiting for those media to dry, conducting the ESA process with the use of a steel electrode-tool, as well as with a graphite electrode-tool. Before applying the saturating media, an aluminium layer is applied onto the surface with the use of the ESA method at a discharge energy of W_p = 0.13-6.80 J. A saturating medium in the form of a paste was applied to the surfaces of specimens of steel C22 and steel C40. During nitriding, nitrocarburizing and carburization by ESA (CESA) processes, with an increase in the discharge energy (W_p), the thickness, micro hardness and continuity of the "white layer" coatings, as well as the magnitude of the surface roughness, increase due to saturation of the steel surface with nitrogen and/or carbon, high cooling rates, formation of non-equilibrium structures, formation of special phases, etc. In the course of nitriding, nitrocarburizing and CESA processing of steels C22 and C40, preliminary processing with the use of the ESA method by aluminum increases the thickness, microhardness and continuity of the "white layer", while the roughness changes insignificantly. Analysis of the phase composition indicates that the presence of the aluminum sublayer leads to the formation of the aluminum-containing phases, resulting in a significant increase in the hardness and, in addition, in an increase in the thickness and quality of the surface layers. The proposed methods can be used to strengthen the surface layers of the critical parts and their elements for compressor and pumping equipment.

Keywords: X-ray diffraction analysis; carburization; coatings; continuity; electrospark alloying; microhardness; nitriding; nitrocarburizing; roughness; structure.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.