Potential of Cow Horn for Carbonitriding Treatment of Steel
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Date
2018
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer
Abstract
The potential of carbonitriding treatment of steel with cow horn was investigated in line
with abattoir waste to wealth approach of waste management. The objectives of the study
included processing of cow horn into different morphologies namely: powder and flakes for
carbonitriding heat treatment, and, chemical analyses of cow horn with Energy Dispersive
Spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) techniques to determine the chemical
composition and phases of cow horn respectively. The heat treatment was carried out at
850 and 450 °C for carburizing and nitriding dominated processes respectively. Vickers
hardness measurement was carried out to determine the hardness profile on carbonitrided
samples. Optical metallography was carried out for microstructural examination and to
investigate phase contrast between the case and core of carbonitrided sample. The result of
hardness test observed is consistent with the case hardening profile with higher hardness
value at near surface decreasing towards core. Sample heat treated with horn flakes showed
higher hardness than those with horn powder. Microstructural phase contrast showed
delineation of the hardened case and soft inner core. The high hardness of case was
attributed to diffusion of carbon and nitrogen atoms from the cow horn to iron interstices.
This supposition was corroborated by detection of carbon and nitrogen with EDS and XRD
tests. It was therefore concluded that cow horn could be processed as candidate materials
for carbonitriding of steel.
Description
Keywords
Abattoir, Carbonitriding, Hardness, Horn, Steel, Waste