The effect of hardness distribution by carburizing on the elastic–plastic contact performance.pdfVIP

Tribology International 100 (2016) 24–34 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Tribology International journal homepage: /locate/triboint The effect of hardness distribution by carburizing on the elastic–plastic contact performance Sheng-guang Zhang, Wen-zhong Wang n, Hai-bo Zhang, Zi-qiang Zhao School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, PR China article info Article history: Received 8 July 2015 Received in revised form 9 October 2015 Accepted 2 November 2015 Available online 10 November 2015 Keywords: Carburizing Hardness Plastic strain Contact abstract This paper aims to investigate the effect of the hardness distribution by carburizing on the contact behaviors. A developed elastic–plastic contact model based on a semi-analytical method is used. The effect of hardness on elastic–plastic contact behaviors is considered by means of the linear hardnessyielding strength relationship. Different hardness distributions are considered to simulate the possible results obtained in heat treatment. The results show that the hardness distribution and carburizing time/ case depth have different in?uence on the plastic strain under different loads and roughness, while its in?uence on the maximum contact pressure and contact area ratio is very limited. 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Surface heat treatment is a technology to change the surface hardness of metal by heating and cooling on the surface. It has been used widely in the industrial production. As one of common surface heat treatments, carburizing is a process which increases the hardness by increasing the carbon content in the neighbor of the function surface of steel elements. Suh et al. pointed out that [1] after being carburized, the work pieces have a harder surface on a ductile core. The hard surface enables the elements have a good wear resistance; furthermore, the compressive stress generated in the hardened surface layer will enhance fatigue resistanc