Many tribological applications demand that the components be highly resistive to wear and corrosion. Austenitic stainless steels meet the corrosion resistance required in most environments.

However the use of austenitic stainless steels is limited due to the low hardness and low wear resistance with the risk of galling. Since these steels cannot be surface hardened by conventional heat treatment processes without reducing their corrosion resistance. Moreover, there is limited scope to extend their application range. In such cases, Bodycote's specialized Kolsterising® surface hardening treatment can be applied to meet most application requirements.

Advantages

• Improves wear resistance
• Prevents "galling"
• Improves mechanical and tribological properties
• Retains corrosion resistance
• Preserves non-magnetic properties

Kolsterising® does not apply a coating to surfaces but produces a pure carbon rich diffusion zone from the surface inwards, with excellent toughness and no risk of delamination or peeling. Kolsterising® increases the surface hardness of most austenitic stainless steels to a level of about 1000 to 1200 HV (depending on base material and surface conditions).

Moreover, Kolsterised components exhibit excellent fatigue properties due to high compressive stresses produced during the surface hardening of parts. Kolsterising® is a low-temperature process causing minimal changes to geometry and shape.

Technical data can be downloaded from: http://internet.bodycote.org/kolsterising