The aim of this paper is to study and analyze the effects of a surface controlled salt bath nitriding on the microhardness of AISI 1045 steel. The nitriding process was implemented in the salt bath component at ten different times (from 1 h to 10 h) when the temperature was constant at (520ºC). The nitriding process repeated of other specimens at the same times, but the temperature was (580ºC).The microstructure of the surface layers was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy. Hardness profiles were measured with lowload hardness testing to determine the growth of the case depth after nitriding. Microhardness testing was carried out on samples to investigate the hardness profile at the transition from the compound to the diffusion layer. The microhardness of the surface of the nitrided sample at 520ºC and 580ºC was observed in the range of 318-430 HV0.3 and 329-421 HV0.3, respectively. Experimental results showed that the nitrides ε-Fe2-3(N, C) and γ'-Fe4(N,C) present in the compound layer increase the microhardness , It also showed that the Increasing the salt bath nitriding parameters (treatment time and temperature) increases the surface hardness and hardness profile.

Composite manufacturing processes usually proceed from preimpregnated preforms that are consolidated by simultaneously applying heat and pressure ensuring a perfect contact compulsory for making possible molecular diffusion. However, fine representations and descriptions of surfaces remain challenging because the necessity of representing their finest scale details. Even if in reality two rough surfaces are put in contact, heated and then squeezed, the associated numerical simulation becomes in most cases extremely expensive. Thus, a simplifying hypothesis has been widely considered, one relating to the consideration of a single surface resulting from the sum of both real surfaces and then its compression from a rigid flat plate. This work aims at elucidating the equivalence of both process representations by analyzing the thermal resistance of different synthetic rough surfaces created from different growing dynamics.

This work aims at analyzing the scaling behavior and develop correlations during surface growing for different germination lengths. The surface growing by random deposition is simulated using a kinetic Monte Carlo approach, by considering different germination lengths. Different surface descriptors are extracted, among them the roughness and the correlation. The former allows extracting the scaling behavior, while the latter proves the existence of correlations independent of the system size but dependent on the germination length. Moreover, as in the case of random deposition with a null germination length, the growing roughness never saturates.

In this paper, the effect of particle shape on the mechanic behavior of glass particle reinforced composites is evaluated. Small particles adhere strongly to the polymer, which leads to a strong reinforcing effect. When the total contact surface increases, more loads are transferred to the reinforcing particles. In our previous studies, it has been shown that addition of circular particles with decreasing diameter does not affect the composite. The objective of this research is to investigate the mechanical behavior of thermoplastic matrix composite nylon 66, reinforced with glass particles, under unidirectional tensile loading using finite element analysis. Numerical results are presented for a variety of particle shapes, including circular, triangular, square, rhombic, pentagonal and hexagonal. The results show that Von Mises stresses consistently increased as the shape of the reinforcing particles changed from triangular to square, rhombic, pentagonal, hexagonal and circular in this order.

This study focuses on the effect of carburization time on the structural and mechanical properties of low carbon XC20 mild steel (C. Wt.% <0.25). The XC20 steel was carburized with activated carbon with a carbon potential Cp1 = 1.1%, at 910 °C at different carburization times of 2, 4 and 6 h. The results obtained show that XC20 steel (non-carburized) has a ferrite-pearlitic structure with a hardness and a Young’s modulus of the order of (150 HV, 26 KN/mm2). After carburization, the structure of the carburized layer is transformed in martensite (Fe γ) in which cementite (Fe3C) is imbricated. The depth of the carburized layer and the amount of carbon on the surface gradually increase with increasing carburization time. In addition, the carburized XC20 steel becomes hard and brittle where the hardness and Young’s modulus have been increased for a high holding time until reaching maximum values ​​(845 HV, 48 KN mm−2) after 6 h of carburization . However, the toughness of XC20 steel has been reduced from 163 to 40 J cm−2.