Enhancement of Materials Surface Properties via Case Hardening Process: Metals Substrate in Silica Sand Bath

This report is compilation of work about a study concerning case hardening process. This study, Enhancement of Material’s Surface Properties via Case Hardening Process: Metals Substrate in Silica Sand Bath aims to introduce simplicity in case hardening concept; focusing on siliconizing using silica sand bath. This study is proposed as the process of case hardening was always complicated, examples including pack carburizing, flame and induction hardening and also heating and quenching in carbon-rich medium. Using silica sand bath concept, the siliconizing steps were simple and economical as it just needed sand and brick which was easily available. Apart from that, the objective is also to characterise and analyse the microstructure and surface properties of the metal after siliconizing using silica sand bath in order to look in the difference before and after the experiment. Using only mild steel, silica sand and brick as the container; the siliconizing process started with sample preparation of the mild steel, preparation of sand and brick for siliconizing, siliconizing experiment which focused on heating the sample in furnace with designated working temperature and time and also microstructure evaluation and analysis after the experiment. After experiment, there is coating layer produced. The layer produced was brittle, weakly adherent to substrate, porous and easily removed after sectioning. However, the interesting part is that the thickness layer was even and homogeneous. Thus, the siliconized sample is evaluated using optical microscope and FESEM testing. The evaluation focused on microstructure and analysis of the coating layer formed at the front layer of the coating and interface of the coating and sample. At the end of the report, the study is concluded and recommendations in order to carry out this project were identified.