Effect of Cryogenic Treatment on the Mechanical Properties of Low Carbon Steel IS 2062

Abstract The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the cryogenic treatment on the properties of low carbon steel IS 2062 material. This material is generally used in heat exchangers, marine engineering, manufacturing of pumps and valves, oil and gas equipment manufacturing, structural engineering applications, etc.The specimens when subjected to shallow cryogenic treatment (SCT) and deep cryogenic treatment (DCT), the hardness and the wear resistance decreased. When the specimens were subjected to carburization process, to increase the carbon content,the hardness and the wear resistance were found to increase due to increase in martensite. Cryogenic treatments were done on the both carburized and non-carburized specimens with different soaking periods to investigate its effect on hardness, wear resistance and impact strength. It was found that there was a considerable increases hardness and wear resistance and a drop in impact strength. The increase in hardness and wear resistance are due to the presence of secondary carbide precipitates and the conversion of retained austenite to martensite during rapid quenching process. The hardness and wear resistance were found to be better when the carburized specimens were subjected to DCT than SCT. Soaking period of the cryogenic treatments had considerable effect on the hardness, wear rate and impact strength of the specimen.