What Material is used for Shafts.

 The ferrous, non-ferrous materials and non metals are used as shaft material depending on the application. Some of the common ferrous materials used for shaft are discussed below.

Hot-rolled plain carbon steel

These materials are least expensive. Since it is hot rolled, scaling is always present on the surface and machining is required to make the surface smooth. 

Cold-drawn plain carbon/alloy composition

Since it is cold drawn it has got its inherent characteristics of smooth bright finish. Amount of machining therefore is minimal. Better yield strength is also obtained. This is widely used for general purpose transmission shaft.

Alloy steels

Alloy steel as one can understand is a mixture of various element with the parent steel to improve certain physical properties. To retain the total advantage of alloying materials one requires heat treatment of the machine components after it has been manufactured. Nickel, chromium and vanadium are some of the common alloying materials. However alloy steel is expensive.

These materials are used for relatively severe service conditions. When the situation demands great strength then alloy steels are used. They have fewer tendencies to crack, warp or distort in heat treatment. Residual stresses are also less compared to carbon steel.

In certain cases the shaft needs to be wear resistant, and then more attention has to be paid to make the surface of the shaft to be wear resistant. The common types of surface hardening methods are,

Hardening of surface

Case hardening and carburizing

Cyaniding and nitriding

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