2020-11-18 - The Surface Treatment of Metals

Lloyd-Thomas Consultancy Ltd
Metallurgy Support and Training since 2000
Surface Treatment
of
Metals
1 Hour Webinar
Presented by Dr Clayton Thomas
Thank you for joining us

We’ll be starting in a few minutes at 2 pm
Please note that at the start of the webinar your microphones and camera will be
switched off. If you need to contact us please call or text 0794 0047409.
www.lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk email : info@lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk tel : 0794 0047409 1

Surface Treatment
of
Metals
1 Hour Webinar
Presented by Dr Clayton Thomas
Please note that at the start of the webinar your microphones and camera will be
switched off. If you need to contact us please call or text 0794 0047409.

Lloyd-Thomas Consultancy - Webinars

1. The Webinar will last around 1 hour but I will stay online to take any
questions.
2. Your Camera and Microphone will be off during the webinar however I will
turn the microphones on at the end of the webinar to take questions.
3. If you move your cursor to the bottom of the screen you will see three icons:
Chat – you can ask me a question or make comments, just to

me or all attendees
QA – You can ask me a question during the webinar
Hand up – This just tells me you still there
SO PLEASE ASK QUESTIONS.......if only to let me know I’m not talking to myself !!

• Started in March 2000, based in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK
• Dr Clayton Thomas and Ms Lisa Lloyd
• Provide metallurgical support and consultancy
• Provide metallurgy training to companies and organisations including

the University of Sheffield, University of Portsmouth and Institute of
Materials, Mining and Minerals IOM3
www.lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk
Surface Treatment of Metals
Objectives
• Why surface treat metals
• What is case hardening
• Barrier and sacrificial coatings
Copies of the presentation will be available on request

Why surface treat metals and alloys:
• Frequently a material needs to

have a range of properties
• Modify local surfaces without

affecting bulk properties
• Its less expensive to just locally

treat

Case Hardening
In the case of hacksaw blades the teeth are locally hardened to provide wear
resistance but the rest of the blade is softer and so more ductile and tougher

Corrosion Resistant Weld Overlays
In this case instead of

making the entire valve
out of expensive corrosion
resistant alloys
Low alloy steel has been used
weld overlaid in the
wetted area with nickel alloy
Courtesy of Cameron UK

Weld Overlays
Hard facings may be applied by welding. Many alloys may be applied in this
way but the most common are:
• Nickel 625 for corrosion resistance
• Stellite® alloys for hard-facings and corrosion resistance
• Ultimet® Cobalt alloys for wear resistance

Surface Treatment
Hard-facings
Case hardening:
eg carburising and nitriding
- wear resistance
- galling resistance
- deformation resistance
Corrosion Resistance:
Chromium, nickel, zinc cadmium, Anodising

Case Hardening
Process for hardening the surface of a

metal/alloy while the bulk of the metal
remains unchanged and relatively soft. The
treatment forms a thin hard outer layer or
"case" at the surface
Process improves the tribological

properties, e.g.friction and wear, as well
as the corrosion and fatigue resistance of
finished parts
Carburising, Carbonitriding,
Nitriding, Nitrocarburising,
Boronising and Induction
Hardening
Nitriding
Irrespective of the method used

during nitriding, nitrogen diffuses
into the metal to form hard
nitrides with elements such as
Chromium, Aluminium, Vanadium,
Molybdenum and Tungsten.
Nitriding improves
• Wear
• Galling resistance
• Hardness

Variation in Nitriding Hardness
Ref.www.raceengineeringsuppliers.com

Nitriding
The most common methods of are

gas, plasma and pack nitriding
Gas nitriding is carried out in a

Special furnace
The gas used does vary but it is

usually nitrogen or ammonia
The part is heated to 500o C and the gas

reacts on the surface and the nitrogen
Diffuses into the part

Carburising
During carburising carbon is introduced into the surface of the component.

This in turn increases strength and hardness.
The process is restricted to steels

and stainless steels. Its usually
Carried out in a carburising
furnace which contains
a hydrocarbon gas.
The temperature of the process is

around 950 oC
Ref wikipedia

Gas Carburising Mechanism
CO is used as a ‘carbon transfer agent’, CO combines with H2 to

release CO2 from the metal surface

Typical carburising heat treatment

Carburising

Comparison of Thermomechanical Processes:
Temp., Process Element Case Surface

Process oC Time, hr (Transferred) Depth, mm Hardness
Carburising 850 - 950 4 – 10 C 0.2 – 1.5 750 - 850
Carbonitriding 750 - 900 2–5 C+N 0.1 – 0.8 750 - 850
Nitriding 500 - 510 5 – 100 N 0.05 – 0.8 450 - 1200
Nitrocarburising 560 - 580 2–4 N+C 0.05 – 0.2 450 - 1200
• Distortion increases with higher processing temperature

Wear Resistant Coatings

Tungsten Carbide
Tungsten carbide coatings consist of hard tungsten carbide particles

embedded in a matrix of nickel or cobalt. The particles give it excellent wear
resistance and the matrix provides a binder, holding the particles together
giving it strength and toughness.
Ref. whiteengineering.com Ref.inovati.com

High velocity oxy fuel (HVOF)

In this process oxygen and fuel gas, as well as powder are continually burned
in a chamber. As a result the powder is heated and fired at the component at
high velocities

HVOF
Ref. gordonengland.co.uk

Corrosion Resistant Coatings

Comparison of Corrosion Prevention Costs
Galvanic anodes 90 GBP / sqm

Coatings 10 – 15 GBP / sqm
Inhibitors 20 GBP / sqm
Nickel 16 GBP / Kg
Titanium 8 GBP / Kg
Aluminium 1.30 GBP / Kg
Stainless steel 2 GBP / Kg
Steel 0.4 GBP / Kg
Note these values are taken from various sources and should only be used for
comparison. Actual figures may vary depending on many factors.

Example of paint coatings

Polyamide Epoxy Paints

These are formed by the cross linking of epoxy molecules. This gives the coating
good strength and chemical resistance. A typical coating consists of:
Top coat
Main barrier layer 200-500

microns
Primer
Epoxy copolymer resin
Substrate
Polyamine Hardener

Polypropylene Coatings
Example of pipe coatings

Corrosion Resistant Coatings
Sacrificial coatings : Zinc, Aluminium, Cadmium
Noble Coatings : Chromium and Nickel

Sacrificial Coatings
These are typically:
Zinc and Aluminium base, they work on the basis that they provide a
barrier, and also they galvanically protect steel
No corrosion occurs as the steel is galvanically

protected
plating
steel substrate

Zinc Electro- Plating
Example of zinc platings to a typical standard eg ISO 2081

Zinc Galvanising process

Galvanising process
Example of galvanising
www.lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk email : info@lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk tel : 0794 0047409

Aluminium
This is applied by either flame spraying or by electrochemical methods.
• Good subsea protection

• Difficult to control the thickness
Structure of flame sprayed
aluminium

Anodising
Aluminium alloys are covered by a thin oxide film. However this film can be made thicker, and this
in turn will improve their corrosion resistance and hardness of the alloy.
Copyright Lloyd-Thomas Consultancy Ltd 2017

Noble Coatings
These are typically
Chromium and Nickel base, they work on the basis that they provide a
corrosion resistant barrier
plating
steel substrate

Chromium and Nickel
This is usually applied electrolitically and provides a corrosion resistant

coating with an excellent surface finish
However if it breaks down it will galvanically corrode the substrate
Nickel may be applied by electroless process and this makes the coating
mechanically stronger

Chromium plating
eg Typical Standard ASTM B177

Electroless nickel
• Reaction of steel in a nickel salt chemical bath that deposits onto nickel
• Phosphorus can be added to the plating to increase hardness
• Thick coatings can be built up
• Poor quality base metal may affect the plating process

Summary
• Surface treatments modify the local surface properties without affecting the bulk
material. In many cases they are less expensive than selecting alternative materials
• Properties that are typically modified include hardness and wear resistance as well
as corrosion resistance.
• Nitriding and carburising are two types of case hardening that are typically used to
modify the surface hardness of steel and stainless steels.
• Barrier coatings are a low cost method of preventing corrosion but once they
become damaged they are less effective
• Corrosion resistant alloy overlays are frequently used and these usually consist of
sacrificial (aluminium and zinc) and noble (chromium and nickel) platings.

If you need further information please call (0794 0047409) or

email (info@lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk).
Our next FREE webinar will be:

Heat Treatment of Metals and Alloys: December 2020
We are running a series of online courses and our next ones are:
• Failure Analysis
• Introduction to Corrosion
• The Effect of Welding on Materials
Thank you for attending……and Keep Calm and Stay Safe !

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Lloyd-Thomas Consultancy Ltd

Metallurgy Support and Training since 2000

Thank you for joining us

www.lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk email : info@lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk tel : 0794 0047409 1

Lloyd-Thomas Consultancy Ltd

www.lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk email : info@lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk tel : 0794 0047409 2

Lloyd-Thomas Consultancy - Webinars

Chat – you can ask me a question or make comments, just to

QA – You can ask me a question during the webinar

Hand up – This just tells me you still there

www.lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk email : info@lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk tel : 0794 0047409 3

Lloyd-Thomas Consultancy Ltd

• Started in March 2000, based in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK

• Dr Clayton Thomas and Ms Lisa Lloyd

• Provide metallurgical support and consultancy

• Provide metallurgy training to companies and organisations including

Surface Treatment of Metals

• Why surface treat metals

• What is case hardening

• Barrier and sacrificial coatings

Copies of the presentation will be available on request

www.lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk email : info@lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk tel : 0794 0047409 5

Why surface treat metals and alloys:

• Frequently a material needs to

• Modify local surfaces without

• Its less expensive to just locally

www.lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk email : info@lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk tel : 0794 0047409 6

www.lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk email : info@lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk tel : 0794 0047409 7

Corrosion Resistant Weld Overlays

In this case instead of

www.lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk email : info@lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk tel : 0794 0047409 8

• Nickel 625 for corrosion resistance

• Stellite® alloys for hard-facings and corrosion resistance

• Ultimet® Cobalt alloys for wear resistance

www.lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk email : info@lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk tel : 0794 0047409 9

Chromium, nickel, zinc cadmium, Anodising

www.lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk email : info@lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk tel : 0794 0047409 10

Process for hardening the surface of a

Process improves the tribological

Irrespective of the method used

www.lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk email : info@lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk tel : 0794 0047409 12

Variation in Nitriding Hardness

www.lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk email : info@lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk tel : 0794 0047409 13

The most common methods of are

Gas nitriding is carried out in a

The gas used does vary but it is

The part is heated to 500o C and the gas

www.lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk email : info@lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk tel : 0794 0047409 14

During carburising carbon is introduced into the surface of the component.

The process is restricted to steels

The temperature of the process is

www.lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk email : info@lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk tel : 0794 0047409 15

Gas Carburising Mechanism

CO is used as a ‘carbon transfer agent’, CO combines with H2 to

www.lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk email : info@lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk tel : 0794 0047409 16

Typical carburising heat treatment

www.lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk email : info@lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk tel : 0794 0047409 17

www.lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk email : info@lloydthomasmetallurgy.co.uk tel : 0794 0047409 18

Comparison of Thermomechanical Processes: