METAL COMPONENT AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING SAME

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing a metal component coated by a hard-material coating, which method comprises the method steps of preparing an anti-caking agent, adding the prepared anti-caking agent to a powder mixture, providing the powder mixture, providing the substrate made of metal, heating the powder and the substrate in a heating device, depositing a coating on the substrate, the coating having a higher hardness than the substrate, and cooling the substrate.

Claims

1.-12. (canceled)

13. A method for producing a metal component coated by a hard-material coating, said method comprising: preparing an anti-caking agent; adding the prepared anti-caking agent to a powder mixture; providing the powder mixture; providing a substrate made of metal; heating the powder and the substrate in a heating device; depositing onto the substrate a coating having a hardness which is higher than a hardness of the substrate; and cooling the substrate.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein a content of the anti-caking agent in the powder mixture is less than or equal to 50 wt. %, preferably less than or equal to 25 wt. % and particularly preferably less than or equal to 20 wt. %.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein an average particle size of the anti-caking agent is increased as the anti-caking agent is prepared.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein a change in the particle size distribution of the anti-caking agent is carried out by washing, sieving, sedimentation, filtration, air classification, pneumatic classification and/or centrifugation.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the substrate is made of a steel and/or the hard-material coating has a CrN, FeN and/or VN.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the anti-caking agent has a content of particles smaller than 40 m of less than 25%, preferably less than 15% and particularly preferably less than 10%.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the anti-caking agent has a content of particles smaller than 10 m of less than 20%, preferably less than 12% and particularly preferably less than 8%.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the anti-caking agent contains kaolin (aluminum silicate), mullite (aluminum oxide and silicon oxide), zirconium oxide, nitride or silicide ceramics and/or any other ceramic inert substances.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein a process temperature is intermittently higher than 450 C., preferably greater than 500 C. and particularly preferably greater than 550 C.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein the metal component is a chain component such as an inner and/or outer plate, a sleeve or a stud.

23. A metal component, comprising: a substrate made of steel; and a hard-material coating made of a metal carbide and/or a metal nitride or mixtures thereof, said hard-material coating having particles of an anti-caking agent, wherein in a micrograph of the hard-material coating, a surface content of the particles of the anti-caking agent in the hard-material coating is less than 15%, preferably less than 10% and particularly preferably less than 5%.

24. The metal component of claim 23, wherein the metal component is a chain component such as an inner and/or outer plate, a sleeve or a stud.

Description

[0034] Embodiments of the sensor device and the method according to the invention are shown schematically and in a simplified manner in the drawings, and explained in more detail in the following description.

[0035] In the drawings:

[0036] FIG. 1 shows the design of a chain for use in chain drives;

[0037] FIG. 2 shows the process of hard-material coating formation using a CVD method from the prior art, without prior preparation of the anti-caking agent;

[0038] FIG. 3 shows the process of hard-material coating formation using a CVD method according to the invention, with prior preparation of the anti-caking agent;

[0039] FIG. 4 shows a micrograph of the hard-material coating produced using a CVD method from the prior art without the anti-caking agent having been previously prepared;

[0040] FIG. 5 shows a micrograph of the hard-material coating produced using a CVD method according to the invention with the anti-caking agent having been previously prepared.

[0041] Embodiments of the method according to the invention for producing a metal component coated by a hard-material coating and embodiments of a metal component coated by a hard-material coating according to the invention are shown schematically and in a simplified manner in the drawings, and explained in more detail in the following description.

[0042] FIG. 1 shows two chain members of a chain 10, which can be used in chain drives, for example. The chain 10 is designed as a sleeve-type chain, comprising inner chain members and outer chain members which are connected via a chain link in each case. The inner chain link consists of two inner plates 13 which extend in parallel and two sleeves 12 which connect the inner tabs 13 to one another, the sleeves 12 being perpendicular to the inner plate 13.

[0043] The outer chain members 14 consist of two outer plates 14 which extend in parallel and are interconnected by means of two studs 11, the studs 11 being rotatably mounted in the sleeves 12 of the inner chain members 13. The outer chain member 14 is rotatably fastened to an adjacent inner chain member 13 by the stud 11, and connects the inner chain member 13 to a second inner chain member 13 by means of the outer plates 14, the outer plates 14 extending in parallel with the inner plates 13. The studs 11 of the outer chain member 14 are rotatably mounted in the sleeves 12 of the inner chain member 13, the connection of a chain link of the chain 10 being formed thereby in each case. The studs 11 of the chain 10 consist entirely of a steel, e.g. 100Cr6, the link surface of the stud 11 being provided with a hard-material coating applied using a CVD method. Alternatively or in addition, the sleeve 12 can also be produced from a steel and provided with a CVD hard-material coating on the link surface or bearing surface thereof.

[0044] The coating method according to the invention of studs 11 of a chain member, which studs consist of a 100Cr6 steel, is described below by way of example. The anti-caking agent 1 is washed, sedimented and dried before the coating process begins so as to separate the fines content.

[0045] For comparison, the coating method is carried out on the same substrate using an anti-caking agent 1 which has not been prepared, as is known from the prior art. The anti-caking agent is Al.sub.2O.sub.3 in both cases. The non-prepared anti-caking agent 1 displays the following particle size distribution in the sieve analysis: 0-5%>0.2 mm, 5-15% 0.125-0.2 mm, 65-80% 0.063-0.125 mm, 0-15% 0.04-0.063 mm, 0-10%<0.04 mm. Particles having a particle size of 63-125 m therefore form the highest proportion in the anti-caking agent 1. Ammonium chloride is also added as activator 2 in a proportion of 0.4%.

[0046] The studs 11 are pretreated by hardening for both embodiments. 80 kg of studs 11 is mixed with 37 kg of powder and 37 kg of anti-caking agent and coated in a rotary drum at 7 rpm and 950 C. in an oxygen-free nitrogen atmosphere at normal pressure for 6 hours. The powder has between 20 and 30% Fe and 70 to 80% V. After being coated, the studs 11 are cooled in an air cooling chamber. The aim of the coating process is a VC hard-material coating which is as homogenous as possible and has a content of anti-caking agent 1 which is as low as possible.

[0047] FIG. 2 schematically shows the process of hard-material coating formation during the CVD process, as is known from the prior art. The powder has the constituents anti-caking agent 1, activator 2, Fe 3 and V 4. The bulk material 5, which is hardened before the coating process, is provided with a hard-material coating 6 during the CVD process. The hard-material coating 6 is formed by the metal which originates from the powder and the carbon which originates from the bulk material 5. Moreover, particles of the release material 1 are embedded in the hard-material coating 6. The particle size of the particles of the anti-caking agent 1 vary greatly, indicated by the varying diameter of the particles. The content of the anti-caking agent 1 in the hard-material coating 6 is also high, indicated by the number of particles of the anti-caking agent 1. This schematic representation is confirmed by the micrograph (FIG. 4).

[0048] FIG. 3 shows a process of hard-material coating formation during the method according to the invention. The powder has the constituents anti-caking agent 1, activator 2, Fe 3 and V 4. The bulk material 5 is provided with a hard-material coating 6 during the CVD process. The hard-material coating 6 is formed by the metal which originates from the powder and the carbon which originates from the bulk material 5. Particles of the anti-caking agent 1 are also embedded in the hard-material coating 6. However, the particle size distribution of the particles of the anti-caking agent 1 is smaller than in the preceding embodiment, a consequence of the pretreatment of the anti-caking agent 1 by washing, sedimentation and drying. The smaller grain sizes of the anti-caking agent 1 are separated by the preparation process. The prepared anti-caking agent 1 displays the following particle size distribution in the sieve analysis: 0-5%>0.2 mm, 5-15% 0.125-0.2 mm, 65-80% 0.063-0.125 mm, 0-10% 0.04-0.063 mm, 0-5%<0.04 mm. The content of anti-caking agent 1 in the hard-material coating 6 is also significantly lower. This schematic representation is confirmed by the micrograph (FIG. 5).

[0049] FIG. 4 shows a micrograph of the hard-material coating 6 on a stud 11 as produced using the method known from the prior art, i.e. without preparing the anti-caking agent 1. The coating thickness of the hard-material coating 6 here is less than 10 m. There are also inclusions of the anti-caking agent 1 in the hard-material coating 6, identifiable by the dark color. The surface content of the anti-caking agent 1 in the hard-material coating is approximately 18%, the diameter ranging between 0.1 and 2 m.

[0050] FIG. 5 shows a micrograph of the hard-material coating 6 on a stud 11 as produced by the method according to the invention, i.e. with preparation of the anti-caking agent 1 by means of washing, sedimentation and drying. The coating thickness of the hard-material coating 6 in this embodiment is under 10 m. There are also inclusions of the anti-caking agent 1 in the hard-material coating 6, identifiable by the dark color. The surface content of the anti-caking agent 1 in the hard-material coating 6 is approximately 2.5%, the diameter ranging between 0.1 and 2 m. The content of anti-caking agent 1 in the hard-material coating 6 is significantly lower than without prior preparation of the anti-caking agent 1. The method according to the invention therefore produces a significantly more homogenous hard-material coating 6, using prepared anti-caking agents, and here in particular anti-caking agents of which the superfine constituents are separated from the powder used, than the solutions hitherto known from the prior art.

[0051] In another embodiment, the studs 11 are pretreated by hardening. 80 kg of studs 11 is mixed with 40 kg FeCr powder and 30 kg anti-caking agents, here Al.sub.2O.sub.3, and coated in a rotary drum at 7 rpm and 950 C. in an oxygen-free nitrogen atmosphere at normal pressure for 6 hours. The powder has between 20 and 30% Fe and 70 to 80% Cr. After being coated, the studs 11 are cooled in an air cooling chamber. The aim of the coating process is a CrN hard-material coating which is as homogenous as possible and has a content of anti-caking agent 1 which is as low as possible.

[0052] In this embodiment, the powder has the constituents anti-caking agent 1, activator 2, Fe 3 and Cr 4. The substrate material 5 is a carbon-containing steel and is provided with a hard-material coating 6 during the CVD process. The hard-material coating 6 is formed by the metal which originates from the powder and the nitrogen which originates from the atmosphere. Particles of the anti-caking agent 1 are also embedded in the hard-material coating 6. The anti-caking agent 1 is prepared by washing, sedimentation and drying, and content of the fraction of anti-caking agent having small particle sizes is separated. The remaining anti-caking agent powder is used in the powder mixture of the CVD process. The prepared anti-caking agent 1 displays the following particle size distribution in the sieve analysis: 0-5%>0.2 mm, 5-15% 0.125-0.2 mm, 65-80% 0.063-0.125 mm, 0-10% 0.04-0.063 mm, 0-5%<0.04 mm. The content of anti-caking agent 1 in the hard-material coating 6 is very low. An EDX analysis showed 4.5 at. % Al content in the hard-material coating.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0053] 1 anti-caking agent [0054] 2 activator [0055] 3 metal 1 [0056] 4 metal 2 [0057] 5 bulk material substrate material [0058] 6 hard-material coating [0059] 10 chain [0060] 11 stud [0061] 12 sleeve [0062] 13 inner plate [0063] 14 outer plate [0064] M metal [0065] N carbon