Optimization of carbon steel electron-beam hardening

A summary is presented of the investigations on the key conditions ensuring electron-beam surface hardening of carbon steels. A numerical model is developed and used to calculate the temperature field caused by high frequency electron beam scanning. The numerical calculation results show that the heating and cooling rate depend weakly on the electron-beam power and are strongly influenced by the sample speed of motion, namely, they increase as this speed is increased. The efficiency of the process of electron-beam hardening of metals increases with the speed of motion of the samples treated.