Carburising behaviour of low carbon steel with nanocrystalline surface layer induced by ball milling

Ball milling, as a surface nanocrystallisation method, was employed to investigate the influence of severe plastic deformation on the carburisation treatment performed on low carbon steel. The results indicated an enhancement in the carburisation efficiency as a result of surface milling. This enhancement was attributed to the formation of a nanocrystalline layer in the surface of the treated samples. It was found that the main reasons for the accelerated kinetics of the carburisation process would be the considerable amounts of non-equilibrium defects and the finer austenite grains in the early and later stages of the treatment respectively, which facilitate the carbon diffusion.