Modelling of phase transformations and hardening of carbonitrided steels

There are a variety of opinions regarding the influence of retained austenite and carbides on the properties exhibited by carbonitrided steels. In this paper, the development of a model marking relationship between phase composition, and properties of hardened carbonitrided steel has been presented. A summary of the impact of structure on properties is provided in Table 1. In the study reported here, the impact of thermal processing conditions on retained austenite and carbides was examined for carbonitrided and hardened 20 (C22), 20H (20Cr4), 15HN (17CrNi6-6) and 16HG (16MnCr5) steels. The models that are reported were experimentally validated. In particular, the results obtained for structure with respect to hardness and abrasive wear resistance were discussed for carbonitrided and hardened 20H (20Cr4) steel