j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 5 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 241247

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmatprotec

Optimization of cryogenic treatment to maximize the wear

resistance of 18% Cr martensitic stainless steel
by Taguchi method

J.D. Darwin a, , D. Mohan Lal b,1 , G. Nagarajan b,1

a Department of Mechanical Engineering, Noorul Islam College of Engineering, Thuckalay 629175,
Kanyakumari District, Tamilnadu, India
b Department of Mechanical Engineering, Anna University, Chennai 25, Tamilnadu, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Deep cryogenic treatment (DCT) is a one time permanent process, carried out on steel com-
Received 28 June 2006 ponents in such a way that the material is slowly cooled down to the cryogenic temperature,
Received in revised form after which it is held at that temperature for a specied period of time and is heated back to
27 April 2007 room temperature at a slow rate followed by low temperature tempering. The main advan-
Accepted 3 May 2007 tage of DCT is to enhance the wear resistance. The various levels of DCT process parameters
have their own inuence upon the wear resistance of the material. In this study, the Taguchi
method has been used to optimize the process parameters of DCT for a commercial piston
Keywords: ring, made up of 18% Cr martensitic stainless steel (SR34) to obtain maximum wear resis-
Wear resistance tance. The DCT parameters considered for optimization are: the cooling rate, the soaking
Piston ring temperature, the soaking time, the tempering temperature and the tempering time. In this
Taguchi optimization regard, two iterations of Taguchi design have been used to arrive at the optimum DCT param-
Cryogenic treatment eters. During the rst iteration, L16 215 orthogonal array (OA) was used to conduct the Taguchi
ANOVA experiment so as to study the signicance of these factors and the effect of their possible
two-factor interactions. In the second iteration, L9 34 OA was used to conduct the Taguchi
experiment to arrive at the optimal levels. Wear test was conducted on a reciprocatory fric-
tion and wear monitor (RFWM) by weight loss method, as per ASTM standards G-181 and
G-133. The relative importance of the controlling parameters of DCT and their interactions
for enhancing the wear resistance was evaluated in terms of their percentage contributions
using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The optimum levels of the signicant DCT parameters
for SR34 steel ring were arrived based on the maximum S/N ratio. A conrmation test was
conducted subsequently, and the results were found to be within the condence interval.
2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction ber of experiments required to achieve an optimal set of

performance characteristics of the process, by means of
Taguchi design of experiment (DOE) methods are exten- incorporating readily available fractional factorial matrices or
sively used to optimize the critical parameters of any process orthogonal arrays (Belavendran, 1995). The Taguchi experi-
(Ross, 1996). It minimizes to a great extent, the num- mental approach allows a statistically sound experiment to be

Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 94442 10306/44 22203262; fax: +91 44 24420593.
E-mail addresses: jdarwa@yahoo.com (J.D. Darwin), mohanlal@annauniv.edu (D. Mohan Lal), nagarajan@annauniv.edu (G. Nagarajan).
1
Tel.: +91 44 22203262.
0924-0136/$ see front matter 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2007.05.005
242 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 5 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 241247
Fig. 1 Standard DCT cycle.
completed based on an analysis of minimal possible combina-
tions of parameters or factors (Antony and Antony, 2001). Thus
a Taguchi experiment can be accomplished within a limited
time frame and at a reduced cost, with results comparable to
that of a full factorial experiment (Mason and Prevey, 2001;
Yang, 2001).
More recent evidences have shown that wear resistance of
steel components are enhanced by DCT at ultra-low tempera-
ture, such as liquid nitrogen temperature (i.e. 196 C) (Barron,
1982). It is an inexpensive, one-time permanent treatment,
affecting the entire section of the component unlike other
surface treatment processes (Mohan Lal et al., 2001). The treat-
ment is an add-on process over conventional heat treatment
in which the samples are cooled down to around 180 C at a
slow rate and soaked at the same temperature for about six
to 36 hours and slowly heated back to room temperature fol-
lowed by low temperature tempering (Barron, 1982; Mohan Lal
et al., 2001).
The DCT has a lot of benets. It not only gives dimensional
stability to the material, but also improves wear resistance,
strength and hardness of the materials (Moore and Collins,
1993; Molinari et al., 2001). A standard DCT cycle is shown
in Fig. 1. The main reasons for this improvement in prop-
erties are the complete transformation of retained austenite
into martensite and the precipitation of ne carbides into the
martensitic matrix (Meng et al., 2004). The main parameters
involved in the DCT are: cooling rate, soaking temperature,
soaking time, heating rate, tempering temperature and tem-
pering time (the cooling rate is the rate at which the steel
sample is cooled to the soaking temperature. Soaking temper-
ature is the temperature at which the sample is held, while
the soaking period is the time for which the sample is held
at the soaking temperature. The heating rate is dened as the
rate at which the steel sample is heated back to room temper-
ature. After this, the tempering operation is performed on the
sample for a predetermined time and temperature). Various
researchers have used different levels of the said parame-
ters in their studies and have claimed different percentages
of improvements in the mechanical properties of steel com-
ponents (Barron, 1982; Mohan Lal et al., 2001). The levels of
treatment parameters may vary from material to material. For
example, the soaking temperature depends upon the marten-
site nish (Mf ) temperature of the material considered (Mohan
Lal et al., 2001), and the soaking period depends upon the
time required for the carbides to precipitate (Meng et al.,
2004). Numerous practical successes of cryogenic treatment
and research projects have been reported worldwide. How-
ever these treatment parameters need to be optimized with
respect to the materials. Determination of appropriate levels
of the above parameters will, not only result in maximum wear
resistance but also save considerable time and energy involved
in the process.
This paper serves to highlight the application of Taguchi
analysis to reach an optimal set of DCT parameters for
enhancing the wear resistance of SR34 stainless steel.
2. Taguchi design and technique
A DOE was assembled for the DCT with the objective of
achieving maximum wear resistance and thus wear loss was
considered as the response. A widely used piston ring mate-
rial SR34 (18% Cr martensitic stainless steel) was considered
for the study. The ve parameters of DCT identied as factors
primarily affecting the wear resistance were the cooling rate,
soaking temperature, soaking time, tempering temperature
and tempering time. The factor, heating rate was considered
as a xed or constant parameter. In order to avoid thermal
shocking of the material, a slow heating rate of 1 C/min was
considered for this factor.
To initially analyze the signicance of factors and to iden-
tify the consequences of possible interactions among the
factors, an L16 (2)15 array, with two levels for each factor was
chosen for the initial DOE (DOE 1). The L16 (2)15 designation
refers to the number of experiments (16), the number of levels
for each factor (2), and the sum total of factors and interac-
tions (15). A full factorial experiment would consist of (2)15 ,
i.e. 32,768 experiments while the Taguchi approach requires
only 16 experiments. The two levels should represent reason-
able extremes for each of the selected factors, for the DOE
1. The factors and levels selected for the analysis of DOE 1
are shown in Table 1. All possible interactions as shown in
Table 2 are considered for the DOE 1, to check for any con-
founding of the factors. An interaction of two factors is dened
as the interdependence of the levels of the factors in inuenc-
ing the response (wear loss). The factors and interactions were
assigned to the L16 (2)15 OA using the specied linear graph
(Fig. 2), for the rst iteration as shown in Table 3.
Once the signicant factors and interactions between the
factors are identied in the rst iteration, the larger matrix
need not be repeated for further renement of the same pro-
cess. In this study, four factors were evolved to be signicant
in the rst iteration. An L9 (3)4 array, employing nine exper-
iments, three levels for each of the signicant factors, was
Table 1 Factor and level descriptions for DOE 1
Factor Level
1 2
A. Cooling rate 1 C/min 3.5 C/min
B. Soaking temperature 80 C 184 C
C. Soaking period 6h 24 h
D. Tempering temperature 150 C 200 C
E. Tempering time 1h 4h
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 5 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 241247 243

Fig. 2 Linear graph for L16 215 orthogonal array.

Table 2 Possible interactions of factors in DOE 1 Table 4 Factor and level descriptions for DOE 2
Interactions Factors Levels

AB Cooling rate vs. soaking temperature 1 2 3

AC Cooling rate vs. soaking period

BC Soaking temperature vs. soaking period A. Cooling rate 0.5 C/min 1 C/min 1.5 C/min
DE Tempering temperature vs. tempering time B. Soaking temperature 120 C 150 C 184 C
AD Cooling rate vs. tempering temperature C. Soaking period 12 h 24 h 36 h
BD Soaking temperature vs. tempering temperature D. Tempering temperature 200 C 250 C 300 C
CE Soaking period vs. tempering time
CD Soaking period vs. tempering temperature
BE Soaking temperature vs. tempering time
AE Cooling rate vs. tempering time
Table 5 L9 34 OA for DOE 2
Exp. no. A B C D
chosen for a second DOE (DOE 2) to optimize the level for each 1 1 1 1 1
signicant factor. A full factorial experiment would consist of 2 1 2 2 2
(3)4 , i.e. 81 experiments as compared to the Taguchi experi- 3 1 3 3 3
ment requiring only 9 experiments. The factors and levels for 4 2 1 2 3
5 2 2 3 1
DOE 2 are shown in Table 4. Two more levels were selected for
6 2 3 1 2
each factor, along with the best level obtained from the DOE 1
7 3 1 3 2
so that any change in trends of the data would be more read- 8 3 2 1 3
ily detected. The factors were assigned to an L9 (3)4 orthogonal 9 3 3 2 1
array for the second Taguchi iteration as shown in Table 5.

Table 3 L16 215 OA for DOE 1

Exp. no. A 1 B 2 A B 3 C 4 A C 5 B C 6 D E 7 D 8 A D 9 B D 10 C E 11 C D 12 B E 13 A E 14 E 15

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
3 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2
4 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1
5 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2
6 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1
7 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 1
8 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 2
9 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
10 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1
11 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1
12 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 2
13 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1
14 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2
15 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 2
16 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1
244 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 5 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 241247

Table 6 Chemical composition of SR34

Material type SR 34 (martensitic stainless steel)
Carbon (wt%) 0.80.95
Silicon (wt%) 0.350.5
Manganese (wt%) 0.250.4
Chromium (wt%) 1718
Molybdenum (wt%) 1.001.25
Phosphorous (wt%) 0.04 max
Sulphur (wt%) 0.04 max

3. Experimental procedure

The SR34 steel piston rings were procured in an uncoated con-

dition and small pieces of lengths 15 mm were sectioned from
the ring for the analysis. The chemical composition of the
selected material was ascertained through Optical Emission
Spectroscope and is shown in Table 6. During the experiment,
as per the Taguchi factor level settings, two replicates were
performed. Therefore a total of 32 samples were used for the
rst iteration, and a total of 18 samples were used for the sec-
ond iteration. The wear resistance of the ring material was
quantied by the weight loss method.
The wear test was conducted on a Reciprocatory Friction
and Wear Monitor as per the ASTM standards G181 & G133. In
this, the rotary motion is converted into reciprocatory motion
by Scotch Yoke mechanism. The reciprocating speed varies
from 1 to 30 Hz, which is achieved by a Variable frequency
drive. The 1:1 loading arm is attached to the test chamber
through a ball topped lifting arrangement, so that the load
is vertically applied in the test interface. In the test section,
provision is made to have fully submerged lubrication or drip
lubrication. Fig. 3 shows the schematic diagram of the recip-
rocatory wear tester.
The specimens were cryotreated in a Cryogenic processor,
as required for the Taguchi OA. The cryogenic processor con-
sists of a treatment chamber, which is connected to a liquid
nitrogen tank through a vacuum insulated hose. The ther-
Fig. 4 Schematic diagram of cryogenic processor.
mocouple inside the chamber senses the temperature and
accordingly the temperature controller operates the solenoid
valve to regulate the liquid nitrogen ow. The programmable
temperature controller of the cryogenic processor can be used
to set the cryogenic treatment parameters, which in turn
controls the process parameters. Fig. 4 shows the schematic
diagram of the Cryogenic processor.
After the DCT was performed as per each factor level set-
ting of Taguchi OA, the ring sample was cleaned with acetone
for removal of any oil or grease contamination and further
cleaned using an ultrasonic cleaner for 10 minutes. After dry-
ing with an electric dryer, the sample was weighed using a
semi-micro balance (105 g accuracy). The initial weight of the
sample was noted. Then the sample was attached to the recip-
rocating arm of the RFWM through a specially designed holder
so that conformal contact was established. The specimen was
then allowed to reciprocate over a silicon carbide (SiC) at
plate with an applied load of 5 N and a reciprocating frequency
of 5 Hz. The stroke length of the reciprocating motion was set
to 10 mm and the test was conducted for an hour. Fully sub-

Fig. 3 Schematic diagram of reciprocatory wear tester.

 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 5 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 241247 245

Table 7 Experimental results for DOE 1 Table 9 Initial ANOVA for DOE 1
Exp. no. Wear loss (mg) S/N ratio Source SS d.f. Variance F

Y1 Y2 A 0.201612 1 0.201612 67.76891

B 4.605612 1 4.605612 1548.105
1 4.00 4.04 12.08 AB 0.066612 1 0.066612 22.39076
2 3.95 3.99 11.98 C 0.918012 1 0.918012 308.5756
3 3.79 3.87 11.66 AC 0.019012 1 0.019012 6.390756
4 3.85 3.73 11.57 BC 0.183012 1 0.183012 61.51681
5 3.24 3.32 10.32 DE 0.017112 1 0.017112 5.752101
6 3.24 3.20 10.16 D 0.103512 1 0.103512 34.79412
7 2.86 2.92 9.22 AD 0.027612 1 0.027612 9.281513
8 2.85 2.79 9.01 BD 0.040612 1 0.040612 13.65126
9 4.12 4.04 12.21 CE 0.030012 1 0.030012 10.08824
10 4.10 4.00 12.15 CD 0.037812 1 0.037812 12.71008
11 3.88 3.92 11.82 BE 0.037812 1 0.037812 12.71008
12 3.89 3.81 11.71 AE 0.040612 1 0.040612 13.65126
13 3.86 3.92 11.80 E 0.046512 1 0.046512 15.63445
14 3.35 3.25 10.37 Error 0.0476 16 0.002975
15 3.08 2.96 9.60
16 3.03 2.97 9.54
Taguchi OA were performed. Y1 and Y2 refer to the response
(wear loss in mg) in the rst and second replications. For lower
merged lubrication was maintained during the wear test. After the better quality characteristics, the S/N ratio is calculated
the completion of the wear test the specimen was removed using the formula
from the holder, cleaned and weighed once again. The nal  
1 2
r
S
weight was noted. The difference in initial and nal weight = 10 log yi
N r
was taken as the weight loss, which is a measure of the wear i=1
resistance.
where r is the number of replicates and yi is the response at
(i = r).
4. Results and discussion The initial ANOVA for the DOE 1 is shown in Table 9. Using
pooling up technique, the insignicant factors and interac-
The results obtained for the rst and the second DOE and the tions are pooled up with the error and the nal ANOVA for the
corresponding S/N ratio are shown in Tables 7 and 8, respec- DOE 1 is shown in Table 10. It is evident from the table that
tively. Two replicates for all the factor level settings as per the the signicance of the factors prevails in the following order
of importance: (1) soaking temperature; (2) soaking period; (3)
cooling rate; (4) tempering temperature, based on the F value.
Tempering time is considered insignicant, as the F value is
Table 8 Experimental results for DOE 2
very low.
Exp. no. Wear loss (mg) S/N ratio Among the interactions, soaking temperature versus soak-
Y1 Y1 ing period (B C) and the cooling rate versus soaking
temperature (A B) show little signicance. All the other
1 3.89 3.77 11.67 interactions are insignicant. The response data of S/N ratio
2 3.48 3.54 10.91
for main factors of DOE 1 are plotted in Fig. 5. Considering
3 2.62 2.52 8.20
4 3.31 3.36 10.46
maximum value of S/N ratio, the optimum levels of the signif-
5 2.96 3.04 9.54 icant parameters are as follows: soaking temperature, 184 C;
6 2.76 2.64 8.63 soaking period, 24 h; cooling rate, 1 C/min; tempering temper-
7 3.03 2.99 9.57 ature, 200 C. For the DOE 1, the breakdown of the signicant
8 3.31 3.43 10.55 interactions B C and A B are shown in Table 11 and the best
9 2.81 2.87 9.07
interaction is B2 C2 and A1 B2 which shows that the best levels

Table 10 Final ANOVA for DOE 1

Source SS d.f. Variance F ratio Pure sum of square (s1 ) Percentage contribution P%

A 0.201612 1 0.201612 14.62179 0.187824 2.924201

B 4.605612 1 4.605612 334.0184 4.591824 71.48936
AB 0.066612 1 0.066612 4.831019 0.052824 0.822408
C 0.918012 1 0.918012 66.57813 0.904224 14.07772
BC 0.183012 1 0.183012 13.27284 0.169224 2.634621
D 0.103512 1 0.103512 7.507162 0.089724 1.396898
Pooled error 0.344713 25 0.013789 14.62179 0.261982 4.078747
246 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 5 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 241247

Fig. 5 Plot of response data of S/N ratio for main factors of Fig. 6 Plot of response data of S/N ratio for main factors of
DOE 1. DOE 2.

Table 11 Interaction breakup of A B and B C
Interaction B1
A1 11.82
A2 11.97
Interaction C1
B1 12.11
B2 10.66
of the corresponding factors are same as the optimum levels
obtained individually.
For the DOE 2, only the signicant factorssoaking tem-
perature, soaking period, cooling rate and the tempering
temperature, were taken for analysis. The ANOVA for the DOE
2 is shown in Table 12. The results show that the signicance
of the factors prevails in the following order of importance:
(1) soaking temperature; (2) soaking period; (3) cooling rate;
(4) tempering temperature. The response data of S/N ratio
for main factors of DOE 2 are plotted in Fig. 6. Considering
maximum value of S/N ratio, the optimum levels of the signif-
icant parameters are as follows: soaking temperature, 184 C;
soaking period, 36 h; cooling rate, 1 C/min; tempering temper-
ature, 250 C.
Comparing the two iterations, in the DOE 1 and DOE 2, it
can be observed that the most signicant factor is soaking
temperature. But in the DOE 1, the percentage contribution
of soaking temperature to the wear resistance was 71.4% and
in DOE 2 it was 60.6%. This may be because of the reason
that in the rst iteration, the difference in levels of the soak-
ing temperature was high and in the second iteration it was
low. But in both the cases, the optimum level of the soaking
temperature is 184 C. The next signicant factor is soak-
ing period. In the rst iteration it contributed 14%, and in the
second iteration its contribution was 24% to the wear resis-
tance. The reason is that, the third level, considered for this
B2
factor in the second iteration (36 h), has more signicance on
9.67 the wear resistance. The optimum level for the soaking period
10.33 was thus arrived as 36 h. The long soak is because of the pres-
ence of more chromium in the material, which needs more
C2
time to form carbides. The third signicant factor is the cool-
11.69 ing rate. On comparing the two iterations, it is observed that
9.34 very low cooling rate and a higher cooling rate result in low
wear resistance, because, very low cooling rate will not enter-
tain martensitic transformation and the high cooling rate will
make the material brittle because of thermal shock. The opti-
mum rate of cooling is 1 C/min. The fourth signicant factor,
tempering temperature shows only little signicance. The per-
centage contribution of tempering temperature over the wear
resistance is only around 2%. However the optimum level of
tempering temperature is 250 C. This is again due to the rea-
son that Chromium carbide needs a higher temperature for
precipitation. Though the tempering time is insignicant, in
order to complete the DCT process, the standard 1 h period is
taken.
5. Conrmation experiment
The predicted optimum wear loss of the SR34 material is cal-
culated as 2.26 mg. The condence interval for the predicted
value is calculated as 0.102 (95% condence), using the for-
mula

F;1;ve Vep
CI =
neff
The specication for control limits is
2.26 CI < e < 2.26 + CI, 2.158 < e < 2.362

Table 12 ANOVA for DOE 2

Source SS d.f. Variance F ratio Pure sum of square (s1 ) Percentage contribution P%

A 0.283544 2 0.141772 35.99295 0.275667 10.09289

B 1.663144 2 0.831572 211.1185 1.655267 60.60374
C 0.668811 2 0.334406 84.89845 0.660933 24.19854
D 0.080344 2 0.040172 10.19887 0.072467 2.653199
Pooled error 0.035 9 0.003939 0.066961 2.451626
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 5 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 241247
Table 13 Wear loss data of conrmation run
Trail no. Weight loss (mg)
1 2.31
2 2.35
Average 2.33
Table 14 Wear loss data of untreated samples
Sample no. Weight loss (mg)
1 4.17
2 4.16
3 4.12
Average 4.15
After predicting the response values at the optimum level,
another important step in Taguchi technique is conducting
conrmation experiment to check whether the predicted opti-
mum condition coincides with the conrmation experiment.
The optimum levels of DCT parameters as determined by
Taguchi analysis, to maximize the wear resistance were, cool-
ing rate: 1 C/min, soaking temperature: 184 C, soaking time:
36 h, tempering temperature: 250 C. The tempering time is
insignicant and so the tempering time is xed as 1 h as
it reduces the total treatment time. These optimum levels
do not coincide with any experiment in the two DOE con-
sidered. Hence the cryogenic treatment was repeated with
these optimum levels of factors. Table 13 shows the result
of conrmation run. This result is found to be within the
condence interval. Therefore the investigation proves that
the optimum levels arrived for the signicant factors are
correct.
6. Improvements in wear resistance
Wear test was conducted on the untreated samples also, to
quantify the wear resistance improvements, with the same
wear test conditions. The wear loss data for the untreated
samples are given in Table 14. Comparison of this result with
the conrmation test reveals that the cryogenically treated
SR34 piston ring as per the optimum levels improves the wear
resistance by 43.8%.
7. Conclusions
In this study, an attempt has been made to investigate the
signicance of DCT parameters and their interactions over
the wear resistance of piston ring material SR34 that is made
up of 18% Cr martensitic stainless steel and to determine the
optimum levels by using Taguchis Design of Experiment Tech-
nique.
The experiments conducted show that
Soaking temperature is the most signicant factor and the
maximum percentage contribution of soaking temperature on
the wear resistance of the SR34 piston ring material was 72%.
The best soaking temperature in the possible range is 184 C.
247
The second signicant factor is the soaking period and it
contributes 24% for the improvement of wear resistance. The
best level for this factor is 36 h.
The third signicant factor is the cooling rate. The max-
imum percentage contribution of cooling rate on the wear
resistance of SR34 piston ring was 10% and the best level was
determined as 1 C/min.
The tempering temperature shows only little signicance
and its contribution on the wear resistance was 2% only. The
optimum level of tempering temperature was arrived at, as
250 C.
The factor called tempering period is insignicant. How-
ever to complete the DCT process the tempering period has
been taken as 1 h.
Among the interactions, soaking temperature versus soak-
ing period and cooling rate versus soaking temperature show
little signicance. However, the best interaction breakdown
shows that, the best levels of the corresponding factors are
same as the optimum levels obtained individually.
The conrmation test results are found to be within the
condence interval with 95% condence.
Wear test was conducted on untreated samples also and
the results were compared with that of the conrmation test
results. This shows that the cryogenically treated SR34 sam-
ples as per the arrived optimum conditions improve in wear
resistance by 43.8%.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the DST-FIST, Government of India
for providing funds for procuring Cryogenic Treatment facility,
and I.P Rings Ltd., Maraimalai Nagar, India, for providing the
piston ring materials required for the study.
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