Residual Stresses and Distortion in Thermochemically Treated Steels

The process of case hardening of steel includes three consecutive steps of heat treatment: heating; the thermochemical process with the enrichment of the surface area during the carburizing or carbonitriding stage with carbon and nitrogen; and the subsequent quenching process for hardening. This article provides a model-based description of the development of residual stresses during case hardening. It also describes the influence and effects of residual stresses and distortion in hardening, carburizing, and nitriding processes of the steel.