Case hardened component out of 1.7160
Case hardening is a carburization of the material and is carried out in front of the real hardening process. Carburization of the surface is an enrichment of carbon in the surface zone of the material. Steels with an amount of under 0.25% carbon are possible as materials for this heat treatment type. The achieved surface hardnesses at the case hardening are almost the same at all cementation steels. There are, however, differences in the attainable core hardness since the materials (unalloyedly or alloyedly) develop different hardness acceptances outside the carburised areas. Sense and purpose of the case hardening is a high surface hardness at the component at simultaneously tough core.
