Vacuum-arc technology and equipment for cleaning and surface treatment of metal products operating under load

The material of the product should be considered as an integral concept that combines the substance, the technology of its production, design, technology of its manufacture and processing. The durability of products depends not only on the properties of the material, determined by the manufacturing technology and volumetric hardening, but also to a large extent on the properties of the surface. Its role in ensuring the performance properties of products is constantly increasing, which, along with the widespread use of traditional methods of chemical-thermal treatment, has contributed to the emergence and development of a new direction - surface engineering by methods of energy and physico-chemical effects. The high rate of high-frequency heating (hundreds of degrees per second) causes a shift in phase transformations to higher temperatures. Therefore, the high-frequency quenching temperature should be higher than the quenching temperature of ordinary furnace heating, and the higher the higher the heating rate. The current density across the section of the part is uneven, on the surface it is much higher than in the core. The main amount of heat is released in a thin surface layer. The depth of current penetration into the metal depends on the properties of the heated metal and is inversely proportional to the square root of the current frequency. The higher the current frequency, the thinner the resulting hardened layer. A reliable method of hardening the surface layer can give comparable results only if the quality of the surface is stable, including its cleaning. The surface condition of the part (tool) depends not only on the structure of the base material and all the conditions for its manufacture, but especially on the last operation of its production or processing. Research is being conducted, among other things, within the framework of the AP14869891 project “Increasing the operational life of heavy-loaded railway transport parts using innovative plasma technology”.