OUTLINE: Issues on the Surface Integrity of Case Hardened Steel Materials

The Utilization of surface engineered materials in various engineering applications has increased tremendously in recent years. This in turn, has enthused many researchers to identify the right surface engineering process with right processing variables for the right application. Surface heat treatment is one such surface engineering process which has been in vogue for long time. But, unlike the other heat treatment processes – full hardening processes, surface heat treatment process requires further research to obtain tailor made characteristics on the materials used. Because of the complexity and condition under which the surface heat treatment process has to take place, it is difficult to conduct the study and fully understand and control the process. For the requirements and difficulties expressed above, finding out the ways and means of obtaining appropriate surface characteristics on the metallic (steel) components used in various applications, like automobiles and aerospace engineering remains an active area of research. This supplement issue is aimed at providing a recent update on the various issues related to surface integrity of Gas carburized and Induction hardened Steel materials. It also covers the Modeling of Phase transformation in Induction Hardening.