Abstract
An attempt has been made to develop a new gas carburizing furnace with the system that discharges H2 gas selectively from the atmosphere in the furnace. Polyimide hollow-fiber membrane filter on the market was selected as a filter that was expected to have good H2 gas permeability and selectivity. The results of the various gas permeability measurements of this filter showed that it had superior H2 gas permeability and selectivity. Using this gas filter module, a new industrial gas carburizing furnace that had ‘H2 gas selective discharging system’ was produced as a trial. Use of this furnace made possible to stabilize the gas carburizing atmosphere in the furnace under the lower carrier gas flow rate condition (below 25% of standard condition). It was confirmed that the carbon concentration profile of the steel carburized with the new carburizing furnace under lower carrier gas flow rate condition was comparable to that of the specimen carburized under standard carrier gas flow rate condition.
