PROCESS FLOW DIAGRAM

Raw Material Loading and Carburizing

Intercooling
Pre Inspection Pre Heating and Diffusion

Restacking Press/Dunk
Tempering Hardening
and Postwash Quenching

Shot Blasting Straightening

Unloading Dispatch
and Blowing and Softening
Heat Treatment
In various manufacturing process of steel components, heat
treatment is the most sensitive and least controllable operation
because it involves unexpected and uncontrollable distortion. To
assure high quality and reliability of steel components,
manufacturers perform heat treatment. As long as parts have been
heat treated, distortion is a major concern. As greater dimensional
accuracy is required for components, distortion becomes even more
of a problem. The main industrial concern is therefore to account for
distortion during design and manufacturing.

Distortion is an unexpected or an inconsistent change in size or

shape caused by variations in manufacturing process conditions.
There are a number of factors affecting distortion which become
noticeable after the complete process.
Reasons for Distortion
1) Relief of Residual Stresses
If a part has locked in residual stresses, these stresses can be relieved
by heating the part until the locked in stresses exceed the strength of
the material. Initial changes in shape are elastic but under increased
stress they occur in the plastic zone and are permanent. Upon
heating, the stresses are gradually relieved by changes in the shape
of the part due to plastic flow. This is a continuous process and as
the temperature of the part is increased, the material yield stress
decreases. It’s a function not only of temperature but also of time
because the material will creep under lower applied stresses. It is
apparent that stresses can never be reduced to zero because the
material will always possess some level of yield strength below which
the residual stresses cannot be reduced.

2) Material Movement Due To Temperature Gradients

When parts are heated during heat treatment a thermal gradient

exists across the cross section of the component. If a section is
heated so that a portion of the component becomes hotter than the
surrounding material, the hotter material expands and occupies a
greater volume than the adjacent material and thus will be exposed
to applied stresses that will cause a shape change when they exceed
material strength. These movements can be related to heating rate
and section thickness of the component.

3) Volume Changes During Phase Transformations

When a steel part is heated, it transforms to austenite with an
accompanying reduction in volume. When steel is slowly cooled, it
undergoes a crystal structure (size) change as it transforms from a
less densely packed austenite (FCC) to a more densely packed (BCC)
structure of ferrite. At faster cooling rates, the formation of ferrite is
supressed, and martensite, which is even less densely packed Body-
Centered Tetragonal (BCT) structure than austenite is formed. If
these volume changes cause stresses that are constrained within the
strength of the material, a residual stress is created. If the stress
cannot be contained, then material movement will occur, which will
cause cracking under extreme conditions.

This expansion is related to the composition of steel. It shows that

the crystal lattice of austenite expands with increasing carbon
content. It has been reported that typically, when a carbide – ferrite
mixture is converted to martensite, the resulting expansion due to
increasing carbon content is approximately 0.002% at 0.25% and
0.007% in 1.2%. The fractional increase in size when austenite is
converted to martensite is approximately 0.014% for eutectoid
compositions. This illustrates the effect of carbon structure and steel
transformation on residual stresses and distortion leading to
dimensional changes.
Factors Affecting Distortion
1) Fixture
2) Press Parameter (Oil Flow, Pressure)
3) Quench Press Agitation
4) Shot Blasting Time
5) Stacking of Crown Wheel
6) Quenching Cycle Time
7) Dent Damage
8) Crown Wheel Section

1) Fixture
The reason for the distortion is the
inadequate support provided for the gear
during heat treatment. The butt of the
spacer holding the Crown Wheel should
not be bending at the corners. It should
be straight providing proper support that
would not cause any error in flatness or
run out. The pinion tray carrying pinions Spacer

should be flat or convex and not concave. Check the pinion tray for
sag and cracks.

2) Press Parameters
Press parameters are used to reduce distortion of Crown Wheel by
applying pressure, controlling the quench oil flow etc. The quench
press applies pressure in three forms: Expander Pressure (42 bar),
Inner Ring (36 bar), Outer Ring (33 bar). These pressures are applied
to control flatness and ovality . And the Oil Flow is 50-60% of the
maximum value which is 1200L/min.

3) Quench Press Agitation

On increasing the degree of
agitation it reduces the stability of
the vapour phase and increases
maximum rate of cooling. It
minimizes any vapour pockets that
can occur and ensures uniform heat
transfer across the surface of a part.
Quench Press with Crown Wheel
So the optimum rate of agitation is from
200 to 400 rpm.

4) Shot Blasting Time

Shot blasting process carried out to prevent metal fatigue or cracking
as well as for cleaning and surface hardening. In this method, the
role of the shot is to remove impurities, rust, scattered pieces of
rubbish or remains that may affect metal strength. It is a method to
used to clean or polish metal.

Results have shown that, increasing the shot blasting time can do
surface over blasting and increasing surface temperature and
hardness, also decreasing steel surface roughness.

5)Stacking of Crown Wheel

 6) Quenching Cycle Time

7) Dent Damage
The raw materials (Crown Wheels and Pinion) are pre inspected
before loading for dent damage. Loading the damaged material
would reduce the overall quality of the processed product. It would
also lead to further distortion throughout the entire processes.

Pre-Inspected Crown Wheel

8 Crown Wheel Section
For DIN analysis, the run out,
ovality and flatness with the
help of Run out Machine,
Bore Gauge and Feeler
Gauge respectively of some
Crown Wheels were checked
which initially had a
provision of outer 0.1mm(no go) and inner 0.05mm (no go) were
later changed to outer 0.05mm(no go) and inner 0.05mm (no go).

The run out had a direct correlation with the flatness of the Crown
Wheel. Any deviation from the prescribed standard were given for
further correction by altering the press parameters.

Batch Model 45 90 135 180 225 270 315 360

Code
17FG51 41/6RR +10 -40 -30 -40 -10 -40 -20 0
19FG17 43/7SRT 0 -20 +10 0 0 +10 0 0
25FG19 41/6SRT +10 +10 -10 -20 +30 +50 +50 0
27FG21 41/7MO -10 -10 0 -20 -40 -10 0 0
27FG22 39/7RR +10 -20 -40 0 -10 -30 -40 0