Arab J Sci Eng (2018) 43:1083–1092
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-017-2724-7
RESEARCH ARTICLE - MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Effect of Coke Size on the Mechanical and Wear Properties of
Carburized Mild Steel
Mahmoud Adly1 · Emad El-Kashif1 · Ahmed Y. Shash1
Received: 4 March 2017 / Accepted: 13 July 2017 / Published online: 21 July 2017
© King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals 2017
Abstract The aim of this research is to investigate the effect
of various coke sizes on the properties of carburized mild
steels; therefore, five sets of samples were prepared and car-
burized at different temperatures and times. Three sets were
carburized at 850, 900 and 950 ◦ C for 120 min, while two
other sets are carburized at 1000 and 1050 ◦ C for 120 min.
All sets were carburized using three different sizes of coke,
namely A (<0.4 mm), B (1:1.6 mm) and C (4:5 mm). After
carburization, all sets were quenched in water and then tem-
pered at 200 ◦ C for 15 min. After tempering, different mild
steel samples were subjected to microstructure observation,
hardness test, Charpy impact test, tensile testing and adhe-
sive wear test. The experimental results were analyzed and
show that mild steels carburized at 1050 ◦ C with intermedi-
ate coke grain size B (1–1.6 mm) give the optimum results
for the mechanical and wear properties which may be due
to the microstructure obtained at this temperature (marten-
sitic case and bainitic core). This indicates that coke size B
gives the optimum combination of surface area and porosity
needed for the reaction kinetics, as well as the highest wear
resistance after different carburizing temperatures.
Keywords Mild steel · Carburization · Coke size ·
Mechanical properties · Bainite · Wear resistance
1 Introduction
Pack carburization is an important heat treatment process
used for mild steel surface hardening of different engineering
components. The efficiency of carburization is determined
B Ahmed Y. Shash
ahmed.shash@cu.edu.eg
1 Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
· Ashraf Hamed1
by hardness and case depth resulted. The variation of case
depth may present problems due to insufficient mechanical
properties and quality control [1–8].
In recent years, the upper temperature limits have been
steadily raised, and carburizing temperatures as high as
1095 ◦ C have been used as steel making processes have been
improved to the extent that fine grain size is maintained
at temperatures approaching or exceeding 1040 ◦ C. Above
this temperature, the coarsening effect occurs only after pro-
longed periods of time, allowing high-temperature treatment
without excessive grain coarsening [9,10].
Carburization performance depends on the effectiveness
of three variables: temperature, time and the carburiza-
tion atmosphere; carburization atmosphere depends on the
kinetics of the carburization reactions. The results of some
industrial carburization practices show deviation of the car-
bon concentration profiles and case depths from those of the
predicted ones although the mechanism of mass transfer dur-
ing carburization is well known and understood [11–17].
Among many studies done on the carburization perfor-
mance, no previous research investigates the effect of coke
grain size used during pack carburizing on the process per-
formance. The coke size has two important variables on the
kinetics of the carburization reactions: One is the surface
area and the other is the porosity among coke grains; they act
against each other and optimization is needed to determine
the best grain size. The objective of this study is to inves-
tigate the effect of various coke sizes on the carburization
performance and properties of carburized mild steels.
2 Experimental Work
The chemical composition of the mild steel used is 0.28% C,
0.2% Si, 0.72% Mn, 0.006% V and 0.019% S. This steel was
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Table 1 Experimental details
Experiment no. Carburization
for all coke samples size from A
temp ◦ C
to C
15 200
15 200
15 200
15 200
15 200
Table 2 The chemical composition of coke
Moisture content 4%
Volatile matter content 1%
Ash content 10%
Fixed carbon content 85%
provided from the Egyptian market, and it is being used for
steel workshops. Coke is solid carbon material derived from
destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur coal. Ten kg of
coal is provided by The Coke Company-Egypt. The crushed
coke was screened for three different sizes (A, B, and C) by
Faculty of Engineering-Cairo University Laboratories and
used for carburization of mild steel samples.
The chemical composition of the coke used is as follows:
moisture content, 4%; volatile matter, 1%; ash content, 10;
and fixed carbon, 85%. Three different sizes of coke were
obtained using sieve analysis (size A,<0.4mm; size B, 1–
1.6 mm; and size C, 4 − −5 mm). For each carburizing cycle,
four different test specimens were machined from the as-
received steels, in which three tests have been conducted for
repeatability for each test parameter conducted.
Samples (20 × 20 × 5 mm) were prepared to follow
the microstructure changes. Tensile test specimens were
machined according to DIN 50/25. The standard Charpy V-
notched impact specimens were fabricated. Wear samples in
cylindrical form with diameter 8 mm and 12 mm length were
prepared for adhesive wear test, as it is the most significant
test to identify the wear behavior of carbon steel, performed
on a “pin-on-disk” wear tester device [10,17]. Table 1 sum-
marizes the five carburization cycles carried out.
The four sets of samples mentioned above were subjected
to pack carburizing treatment. In this process, the samples
were put on a thick bed of carburizer placed in container of
steel. The container is then placed inside muffle furnace. The
experiments were conducted for all sizes of coke (A, B and
C) having the chemical composition illustrated in Table 2.
The samples were immediately quenched in water after
carburization followed by tempering at 200 ◦ C for 15 min. A
50 KN universal testing machine was used for tensile test with
cross-head speed 10 mm/min.; three specimens were tested
for each carburized condition and the average was taken.
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Soaking time Quenching Tempering Soaking time
(min.) medium temp ◦ C (min.)
Water 120 850 1
Water 120 900 2
Water 120 950 3
Water 60 1000 4
Water 60 1050 5
Macro- and micro-hardness were measured for all condi-
tions. Micro-hardness was measured to calculate the marten-
sitic case depth. Charpy V-notch impact test is conducted for
all samples. The test was carried out at room temperature,
and three specimens were tested for each condition and the
average was taken. Wear test was achieved according to the
standard specifications. In this experiment, in order to study
the influence of applied load on wear characterization, the
test can be conducted with the following parameters: The
load was varied from 20, 32 and 52 N, while the duration
time of all tests was 15 min and the rotational speed was
300 rpm for all tests.
Microstructure samples were cut out from the hardfac-
ing steel plate using a cooling disk machine, then ground
and polished. The microstructure was observed using optical
microscope after etching by 2% Nital solution.
3 Results and Discussion
3.1 Optical Metallography
The as-received microstructure is shown in Fig. 1, and it
consists of ferrite and pearlite as a result of the annealed heat
treatment. The amount of ferrite and pearlite is 72 and 28%,
respectively, with little difference from the theoretical lever
rule calculation based on carbon content.
Figure 2 shows the microstructure of the core after car-
burizing, quenching and tempering for different carburizing
temperatures using coke size A (fine size). It consists of grain
boundary ferrite and Widmanstatten ferrite; by increasing
the carburizing temperature, the grain boundary ferrite area
decreases and the Widmanstatten ferrite transforms to acic-
ular ferrite and finally to bainite.
The microstructure of the core after carburizing at 1050 ◦ C
is mainly bainite with very small areas of grain boundary fer-
rite; since quenching medium is the same for all carburizing
temperature, the higher the quenching temperature, the faster
the cooling rate, and this results in the formation of bainite
at the core.
Figure 3 shows the microstructure of the case after car-
burizing, quenching and tempering for different carburizing
temperatures using coke size A (fine size). It consists of grain
Arab J Sci Eng (2018) 43:1083–1092
Fig. 1 As-received microstructure of mild steel
boundary ferrite and bainite; the increase in carburizing tem-
perature does not show any martensite as shown in Fig. 3 after
carburizing at 1050 ◦ C. This means that the carbon content
is still low for martensitic transformation and the efficiency
of carburization has a close relation to the coke size.
Figure 4 shows the microstructure of the core after car-
burizing, quenching and tempering for different carburizing
temperatures using coke size B (medium size). It consists of
grain boundary ferrite and Widmanstatten ferrite; by increas-
ing the carburizing temperature, the grain boundary ferrite
Fig. 2 Optical photographs of the core after carburizing at different temperatures followed by quenching and tempering using coke size A
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area decreases and the Widmanstatten ferrite transforms to
acicular ferrite and finally to bainite.
The microstructure of the core after carburizing at 1050 ◦ C
is full bainite since quenching medium is the same for all car-
burizing temperature, the higher the quenching temperature,
the faster the cooling rate, and this results in the formation
of bainite at the core.
Figure 5 shows the microstructure of the case after car-
burizing, quenching and tempering for different carburizing
temperatures using coke size B (medium size). It consists of
grain boundary ferrite and bainite; the increase in carburizing
temperature results in transforming the bainite into marten-
site as shown in Fig. 5 after carburizing at 1050 ◦ C. This is due
to the faster cooling rate attained after carburizing at 1050 ◦ C
which results in martensite formation compared to cooling
rates after carburizing at lower temperatures. This condition
is the only one that shows martensite which indicates that the
carbon content reaches a good level for martensite transfor-
mation.
Figure 6 shows the microstructure of the core using coke
size C (coarse size). It consists of pearlite and ferrite for
temperatures 900 and 950 ◦ C; by increasing the temperature,
the grain boundary ferrite and Widmanstatten ferrite occur.
No acicular ferrite or bainite was obtained at the core for
this coarse size of coke, which implies that the efficiency of
carburization is very low using this size. The microstructure
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Fig. 3 Optical photographs of the case after carburizing at different temperatures followed by quenching and tempering using coke size A

Fig. 4 Optical photographs of the core after carburizing at different temperatures followed by quenching and tempering using coke size B

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Fig. 5 Optical photographs of the case after carburizing at different temperatures
of the core after carburizing at 1050 ◦ C is full Widmanstatten
ferrite.
Figure 7 shows the microstructure of the case using coke
size C (Coarse size). It consists of ferrite and pearlite for
temperatures 900 and 950 ◦ C; then by increasing the temper-
ature, the grain boundary ferrite and Widmanstatten ferrite
occur; the increase in carburizing temperature results in
transforming the ferritic–pearlitic microstructure into Wid-
manstatten ferrite after carburizing at 1050 ◦ C. No bainite is
obtained even after faster cooling rate attained for carburiz-
ing at 1050 ◦ C, which confirms the previous result that the
efficiency of carburization is closely related to coke size and
different microstructures were obtained after using various
coke sizes.
3.2 Hardness, Tensile and Charpy Impact Testing
The micro-hardness distribution was determined using HMV
Shimadzu Vickers hardness testing device at a load of 100 g
for 15 s and a 70 µm/s load speed to investigate the case depth
of carburizing. Micro-hardness results after carburizing at
different temperatures are shown in Figs. 8, 9 and 10.
These figures show the effects of carburizing temperature
on the micro-hardness using different coke sizes, namely A, B
and C. The intermediate coke size B shows the largest micro-
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hardness at the same carburizing temperature. Increasing
the carburizing temperature results in larger micro-hardness,
and the same trend is obtained for all carburizing tem-
peratures used. Micro-hardness values after carburizing at
1050 ◦ C using coke size B are the largest overall other
carburizing temperatures, and Fig. 9 shows that marten-
site is attained only after carburizing at 1050 ◦ C with about
0.2 mm depth. The micro-hardness results are in consistent
with the microstructure obtained for different conditions.
The largest hardness obtained corresponds to the martensite
attained at the case after 1050 ◦ C carburizing temperature
for 0.2 mm depth. Lower hardness is corresponding to bai-
nite, this has a depth of 3 mm, and after 3 mm depth,
the microstructure is pearlite. For carburizing at lower tem-
peratures, bainite is formed only at 1000 ◦ C for 0.2 mm
depth followed by pearlite and ferrite. For carburizing at
temperatures lower than 1000 ◦ C, Widmanstatten ferrite is
formed at the case for 0.5 mm and then pearlite and fer-
rite. Adnan Calik and Fatai Aramide et al. [14,15] studied
the effect of cooling rate on hardness and microstructure
of mild steels, and they concluded that the microstructure
and hardness of these steels can be changed and signifi-
cantly improved by varying the cooling rate. Based on the
above results and results obtained by other researchers, the
variation of micro-hardness results may be attributed to the
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Fig. 6 Optical photographs of the core after carburizing at different temperatures followed by quenching and tempering using coke size C

Fig. 7 Optical photographs of the case after carburizing at different temperatures followed by quenching and tempering using coke size C

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Fig. 10 Micro-hardness distribution for all steels carburized using

Fig. 8 Micro-hardness distribution for all steels carburized using coke coke size C
size A

Fig. 9 Micro-hardness distribution for all steels carburized using coke

size B

different cooling rates obtained and the different microstruc-

tures.
The variation of hardness with coke size samples is shown
in Fig. 11, and the maximum hardness is obtained for coke
size (B) at all carburizing temperature, which implies that
size B is the optimum size for carburization from the kinetics
point of view; the optimum grain size with respect to surface
area and porosity needed for the carburization reactions. This
means coke size B gives the optimum combination of surface
area and porosity needed for the reactions kinetics.
The maximum hardness (about 52 HRC) is obtained at car-
burizing temperature of 1050 ◦ C for coke size B. Based on the
above result and results obtained by several other researchers
(Jitendra Prasad and Mahesh Pratap [16]), the higher carbur-
izing temperatures give better mechanical properties.
The variation of tensile strength with coke size for all sam-
ples is shown in Fig. 12, and the maximum tensile strength is
Fig. 11 Variation of hardness versus coke size samples
obtained for coke size B at all carburizing temperature, which
implies that size B is the optimum size for carburization as
reported before.
The maximum tensile strength (about 2020 MPa) is
obtained at carburizing temperature of 1050 ◦ C for coke
size B, and the tensile results are in good consistent with
the hardness and microstructure results. This corresponds to
martensitic case and bainitic core obtained after carburizing
at 1050 ◦ C. Rashmi Panda et al. [17] studied the mechani-

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Fig. 12 Variation of tensile strength versus coke size samples Fig. 14 Variation of weight loss due to adhesion versus coke size sam-
ples at 20 N load

Fig. 13 Variation of Charpy impact toughness versus coke size

samples Fig. 15 Variation of weight loss due to adhesion versus coke size sam-
ples at 32 N load

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Fig. 16 Variation of weight loss due to adhesion versus coke size sam-
ples at 52 N load
cal and wear properties of carburized low-carbon steel under
different temperatures (850, 900 and 950 ◦ C). They found
that the mild steels carburized at the temperature of 950 ◦ C
give the best results for the different kinds of mechanical and
wear properties because at this temperature it gives high-
est tensile strength, hardness and wear resistance, so it must
be preferred for the required applications. Their results are
in good consistent with the present study, which shows that
higher carburizing temperatures give better mechanical and
wear properties.
Figure 13 shows the variation of Charpy impact test tough-
ness for all coke samples; comparing the toughness values,
coke size B gives the lowest toughness at the same car-
burizing temperature which is in good consistent with the
microstructure (martensitic case and bainitic core), hardness
and tensile testing results. These results are in good agree-
ment with results obtained by Fatai Aramide et al. [18] who
concluded that carburization process decreases the impact
energy (toughness) of the mild steels and the toughness
decreases with the increase in the carburizing temperature
which may be attributed to the grain coarsening.
3.3 Wear Characteristics
Wear characteristics were observed for all samples under dif-
ferent loads, namely 20, 32 and 52 N, at the same rpm and
time. Figures 14, 15 and 16 show the variation of weight loss
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with different coke sizes and different loads, and the weight
loss shows minimum for coke size B compared to the other
two sizes at all carburizing temperature. Increasing the load
from 20 to 32 N and finally to 52 N results in more weight
loss.
The minimum wear rate is obtained at carburizing temper-
ature of 1050 ◦ C for coke size B which is in good agreement
with tensile results, hardness and microstructure results.
Kotecki and Ogborn [19] studied the low-stress abrasion
resistance of numerous iron-based hardfacing alloys; they
concluded that microstructure is the most important factor
for wear resistance. On the contrary, maintenance engineers
insist that increasing the hardness of the hardfacings results in
better abrasion resistance. Although increased hardness can
result in better wear resistance, different hardfacings with
similar hardness show different wear resistance [20]. This
implies that microstructure is the dominant factor in deter-
mining the wear resistance.
4 Conclusions
The effect of various coke sizes on the carburization per-
formance and properties of carburized mild steels has been
studied, and the following conclusions were found:
1. Among all sizes of coke used, size B (1–1.6 mm) shows
the largest martensitic case depth which is a good indi-
cation for the carburization performance. This coke size
gives the best combination of surface area and porosity
needed for the carburization reactions kinetics, and these
samples show the best tensile strength, hardness and wear
resistance for all carburizing temperatures.
2. Very high tensile strength of 2000 MPa resulting after car-
burizing at 1050 ◦ C for 60 min followed by water quench
and then tempering at 200 ◦ C using coke size (B), which
may be attributed to the martensitic structure obtained at
the case and bainitic structure obtained at the core, and
this was corresponding to the large case depth of marten-
site (3 mm).
3. The lowest toughness has been concluded for coke size
B at the same carburizing temperature which is in good
consistent with the microstructure (martensitic case and
bainitic core), hardness and tensile testing results.
4. No significant grain coarsening was obtained during car-
burizing at high temperatures up to 1050 ◦ C, which may
be due to short carburizing time (60 min) as reported by
many researchers.
5. The weight loss due adhesion, wear volume and wear rate
increases with the increase in the applied load; however,
carburized samples using coke size (B) show the highest
wear resistance after different carburizing temperatures.
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