Although the cost of the heat treatment process is only a minor portion of the total production cost, it is arguably the most important and crucial stage on the determination of material
quality. In the study of the carbon diffusion in H13 steel during austenitization, a series of
heat treatment experiments had been conducted under different atmospheric conditions
Heat treatment is a process to alter the metallurgical and
mechanical properties for specific purposes that involves
heating and cooling of the material. It is known that the hardness obtained from hardening process is greatly influenced
by the available carbon content in steel during quenching [1]. The presence of carbon within the steel matrix is
largely responsible to the obtainable mechanical properties,
which makes the steel material a highly useful commodity
of everyday life. It also affects both the minimum hardening
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail: maziar.ramezani@aut.ac.nz (M. Ramezani).
temperature and the maximum achievable hardness [2]. To
establish a proper heat treatment atmosphere for steel, there
is a need to understand the relationship between the atmosphere composition and the carbon content of steel during
the austenization period.
Realistic carbon diffusion model for the carbon profile is
important. Carbon can either diffuses out or into the steel
matrix depending on the working environment [3]. If decarburization happens, the hardness on the surface of the treated
material is going to be lower than expected. However, if carburization was conducted, the treated material would be
hardened [4]. Many researches have been conducted related to