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Cswip Section 20 Heat Treatment PDF
Cswip Section 20 Heat Treatment PDF
Heat Treatment
Rev 2 April 2013
Heat Treatment
Copyright TWI Ltd 2013
20 Heat Treatment
20.1 Introduction
The heat treatment given to a particular grade of steel by the steelmaker/
supplier should be shown on the material test certificate and may be
referred to as the supply condition.
Applied to
Relatively thin, lower strength C-steel.
Applied to
Relatively thin, high strength low alloy (HSLA) steels and some steels with
good toughness at low temperatures, eg cryogenic steels.
Normalised
After working (rolling or forging) the steel to size, it is heated to ~900°C then
allowed to cool in air to ambient temperature; which optimises strength and
toughness and gives uniform properties from item to item for a particular
grade of steel (Figure 20.1).
Applied to
C-Mn steels and some low alloy steels.
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Normalising:
Rapid heating to soak temperature (100% austenite)
Short soak time at temperature
Temperature, °C Cool in air to ambient temperature
~ 900°C
Time
Figure 20.1 Typical normalising heat treatment applied to C-Mn and some low
alloy steels.
Applied to
Some low alloy steels to give higher strength toughness or wear resistance.
~ 900°C
Quenching Tempering
cycle cycle
Time
Figure 20.2 A typical quenching and tempering heat treatment applied to some low
alloy steels.
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Heat Treatment
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Solution annealed
Hot or cold working to size, steel heated to ~1100°C after.
~ 900°C
Temperature, °C.
Austenite + ferrite
(
As-rolled or Control-rolled
Ferrite + pearlite hot rolled Or TMCP
() iron carbide
Time
Figure 20.3 Comparison of the control-rolled (TMCP) and as-rolled (hot rolling)
conditions.
Quenching
Time
Figure 20.4 Typical solution heat treatment (solution annealing) applied to
austenitic stainless steels.
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Applied to
Austenitic stainless steels such as 304 and 316 grades.
Annealed
After working the steel (pressing or forging, etc) to size, it is heated to
~900°C then allowed to cool in the furnace to ambient temperature; this
reduces strength and toughness but improves ductility (Figure 20.5).
Annealing:
Rapid heating to soak temperature (100% austenite).
Short soak time at temperature.
Slow cool in furnace to ambient temperature.
Temperature, °C
~ 900°C
Time
Figure 20.5 Typical annealing heat treatment applied to C-Mn and some low alloy
steels.
Applied to
C-Mn steels and some low alloy steels.
Figures 20.1-20.5 show thermal cycles for the main supply conditions and
subsequent heat treatment that can be applied to steels.
The temperature at which PWHT is usually carried out well below the
temperature where phase changes can occur (see Note), but high enough
to allow residual stresses to be relieved quickly and to soften (temper) any
hard regions in the HAZ.
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The major benefits of reducing residual stress and ensuring that the HAZ
hardness is not too high for steels for particular service applications are:
Because the main reason for and benefit of PWHT is to reduce residual
stresses, PWHT is often called stress-relief.
Maximum heating rates specified for C-Mn steel depend on the thickness of
the item but tend to be in the range ~60 to ~200°C/h.
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~ 600°C
Controlled heating
and cooling rates
~300°C
Soak
time Air cool
Time
Figure 20.6 Typical PWHT applied to C-Mn steels.
It is also important to ensure that the fuel particularly for oil-fired furnaces
does not contain high levels of potentially harmful impurities, such as
sulphur.
Width of the heated band (must be within the soak temperature range).
Width of the temperature decay band (soak temperature to ~300°C).
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Heat Treatment
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Figure 20.7 shows typical control zones for localised PWHT of a pipe butt
weld.
Weld seam
temp. temp.
decay heated band decay
band band
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