Deep Cryogenic Treatment Improves Wear Resistance of En 31 Steel

Cryogenic treatment is an inexpensive supplementary process to conventional heat treatment, which improves the tribological properties of steels. A study has been made on the effect of cryogenic treatment on En 31 steels done at different stages of heat treatment. It is observed that through cryogenic treatment the wear can be decreased by a maximum of 75% depending on the service conditions. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) study was also conducted to identify the possible mechanism which augments the improvement in wear resistance (WR) in cryogenically treated En 31 steels. Based on the study it is also confirmed that the cryogenic treatment should be done before tempering immediately after quench hardening to obtain maximum benefits.