Degree and depth of hardening under pendulum surface plastic deformation of carbon steel

The article discusses influence of the main technological parameters of pendulum surface plastic deformation (SPD) on the mechanical properties of surface layer of cylindrical parts made of carbon steel. Using the hardness tester HBRV-187.5 and the microhardness tester HMV-G21, we determined hardness of the surface layer, microhardness and depth of the work-hardened layer of hardened parts. In addition, the results of calculating the hardening degree are presented, which is important information for evaluating the effectiveness of SPD method in terms of improving the metal mechanical properties. Experimental studies showed that after pendulum SPD (at different processing modes), hardness of the surface layer increases by 9 – 12 % compared to hardness of the original surface, and the microhardness increases by 1.5 – 1.7 times, which leads to a significant hardening of the cylindrical billet surface layer. Depth of the hardened layer varies in the range of 0.9 – 1.1 mm, while the hardening degree is 45 – 65 %. Using the software package Statistica 10.1, which allows solving optimization problems based on statistical analysis and building an optimization model, we determined the optimal modes of hardening by pendulum SPD. These modes simultaneously provide both the maximum depth of the hardened layer and the highest hardening degree of the surface layer. They are formed under the following processing modes: radial interference t = 0.15 – 0.2 mm; longitudinal feed s = 0.07 – 0.11 mm/rev; billet rotation frequency nb = 160 – 200 min−1; frequency of the working tool pendulum movement nt = 110 – 130 strokes/min; angular amplitude of the working tool α = 35 – 40°. According to the results of experimental data and numerical calculations, it was established that the average grain size in pendulum SPD decreases by 30 – 40 % compared to the initial size, and the dislocation density increases by 2.5 times.