Carbon Diffusion in 304l Austenitic Stainless Steel at 650-750 O c in Carburizing Environment
F.I. Haider1, Suryanto2, M.H. Mahmood3
1F.I. Haider, Department of Manufacturing and Material Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, PO Box Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
2Suryanto, Department of Manufacturing and Material Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, PO Box Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
3M.H. Mahmood, Department of Manufacturing and Material Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, PO Box Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Manuscript received on 21 March 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 02 April 2019 | Manuscript Published on 18 April 2019 | PP: 76-78 | Volume-7 Issue-6S March 2019 | Retrieval Number: F02170376S19/2019©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: A 304L austenitic stainless steel is widely used in the petrochemical industry. As it is exposed to carburizing environment, carbon diffuses into metal and form carbides. Effect of the environment on the carbon diffusion is interesting to be known. This study will evaluate the effect of CH4 /H2 gas concentration and carburizing temperature on carbon diffusion in 304L austenitic stainless steel. Horizontal furnace equipped with a quartz tube and vacuum pump was used to expose the samples to carburizing environment at 650°C – 750°C and 20% – 40% CH4 /H2 gas composition for 100 hours. Optical microscopy examination of cross-sectioned specimens of 304L stainless steel showed that no carburizing zone formed after the samples subjected to 20% CH4 /H2 gas composition at 650˚C. It is observed that low carbon deposited on substrates with an average 0.0011g and carbon activity, ac , equal to 0.31. In comparison, with 40% CH4 /H2 gas composition at 650˚C, the average carbon deposited on the surface was two times more and carbon activity increased more than one, known as carburizing zone. Carbon diffusion at 750°C was deeper than at 650°C for both CH4 /H2 gas concentrations 20% – 40%. In conclusion the depth of the carburization zone increases with increasing the temperature from 650˚C to 750˚C and increases with increasing percentage of CH4 /H2 gas composition.
Keywords: 304L Stainless Steel; Carbon Activity; CH4/H2; Diffusion; High Temperature.
Scope of the Article: Environmental Engineering