Establishing the Induction Hardening Process Parameters of a 6-Cylinder Diesel Engine Crankshaft for Improving the Quality

Induction hardening is a Localized heat treatment in which the Surface layer is hardened to a certain depth leaving the core of the work unhardened. Heating by high frequency current is accomplished by the thermal effect of the current induced in the workpiece being heated, which is placed in an alternating magnetic field. Present study is conducted to improve the quality by establishing the process parameters of induction hardening to get consistency in case depth. Parameters like quench bath temperature, quench concentration. Flow rate, Inductor-to-Inductor variation. Heating Time & power level was considered for experimentation. It was found that quench bath temperature, flow rate, quench concentration, do not have significant effect on the case depth. Only power level & heating time affect the case depth exponentially.