Experiment 2 (High carbon steel Heat treatment)

Heat Treatment of Steels

Common steels, which are really solid solutions of carbon in iron, are body-centered-cubic.
However, the carbon has a low solubility in bcc iron and precipitates as iron carbide when steel
is cooled from 1600ºF (870ºC). The processes of precipitation can be altered by adjusting the
cooling rate. This changes the distribution and size of the carbide which forms a laminar
structure called pearlite during slow cooling processes.
If a steel is quenched into water or oil from 1600ºF (870ºC) a metastable phase called martensite
forms, which is body-centered-tetragonal. This phase sets up large internal stresses and prevents
carbide from forming. The internal stresses produce a high hardness and low toughness. After
cooling, to restore toughness, steels are tempered by reheating them to a lower temperature
around 800ºF (426ºC) and cooling. The tempering relieves the internal stresses and also allows
some iron carbide to form. It also restores ductility.

Procedure :
You are provided with 8 specimens of steel for your study.

1- Measure the hardness of all specimens.

2- Heat all specimens in furnace at 870ºC for ½ hour.
3- Remove one specimen and cool it in air on a brick.
4- Remove one specimen and cool it in oil
5- Remove one specimen and cool it in water
6- Turn off the furnace , allow one sample to remain in the furnace for one hour.
7- The air-cooled and furnace-cooled specimens can be cooled in water after one hour.
8- Remove remainig four specimen and quickly drop them into water; the transfer should
take less than one second. A little rehearsal could help. Be careful don’t touch the
specimens before they are cooled in water.
9- Compare the measure of the one of the quenched specimen with the air-cooled, furnace-
cooled specimens. Explain the results.
10- Temper three specimens of the quenched for 30 minutes at the 350 ºC, 450 ºC, 550 ºC.
After tempering, the specimens can be cooled in water.
11- Mesure hardness of all samples using the Rockwell machine (take four measures for
each specimen and calculate the average).
12- Plot Rockwell hardness VS tempering temperature. Explain the trend of the curve
13- Grind and polish all samples and use the appropriated solution(4% HNO3 + 96% water)
to reveal the microstructure.