This study sums up the authors recent works1–6 on steel regarding non-destructive testing and evaluation achieved between 2000 and 2008. The main related items are the establishment of a polynomial correlation4 between the thermal diffusivity and the Vickers' hardness HV using the recently established Boubaker polynomial expansion. This correlation is undoubtedly an efficient guide to set an NDT protocol to investigate steel-strengthened surface performance. Special attention is given to carburized steel material,6 as the existence of any appropriated NDT photothermal technique is demonstrated2,5,6 to be unavoidably subjected to some restrictive conditions. The perspectives of the new features of this recent technique are discussed, with special concern with differently treated material like nitrured and nitrocarburized quenched steel.

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is an open access repository that collects the work of Arts et Métiers ParisTech researchers and makes it freely available over the web where possible. Cr/CrN/CrAlN, CrN/CrAlN and Cr/CrN thin layers were deposited by PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition). The multilayers were obtained from the combined deposition of different layers Cr, CrN and CrAlN thick films on on AISI4140 steel and silicon substrates at 200 C, and evaluated with respect to fundamental properties such as structure and thermal properties. Cr, CrN and CrAlN single layers were also prepared for comparison purposes. The structural and morphological properties of PVD layers were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with EDS þ WDS microanalyses, stresses were determined by the Newton's rings methods using the Stoney's equation and surface hardening and hardness profiles were evaluated by micro hardness measurements. The XRD data and HRTEM showed that both the Cr/CrN, CrN/CrAlN and Cr/CrN/CrAlN multilayer coatings exhibited B1NaCl structure with a prominent reflection along (200) plane, and CrAlN sub-layer microstructures composed of nanocrystallites uniformly embedded in an amorphous matrix. The innovation of this work was to use the thickness of three different coating types to determine the thermal properties. Furthermore, an empirical equation was developed for the thermal properties variations with temperature of AISI4140 steel coated with different multilayer coatings. The thermal conductivity of CrAlN single layered was lower than the multilayer and the bulk material AISI4140. Moreover, the influences of structure and composition of the multilayer coatings on the thermal properties are discussed. The thermal conductivity of nanoscale thin film is remarkably lower than that of bulk materials because of its various size effects.