LECTURE NOTES ON

PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS & HEAT TREATMENT

6th Semester, MME

PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS & HEAT TREATMENT

Course Coordinator

Avala Lava Kumar

Department of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering (MME)
Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT), Burla-768018
E-mail : lavakumar.vssut@gmail.com Phone: (+91) (7077110110)
 PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS & HEAT TREATMENT
Course Objective
The aim of this course is to gain an understanding of the role of phase transformations w.r.t.
heat treatment on the development of microstructure and properties of metallic materials. The
course will highlight a number of commercially-significant applications where phase
transformations due to heat treatment are important.

Course Overview
Thermodynamics of phase transformations; solidification of pure metals and alloys; thermal
supercooling; constitutional supercooling; interface stability; solute redistribution; Solid state
transformations : nucleation and growth of phases; diffusion mechanisms; transformation
kinetics; transformation diagrams. Diffusional and Diffusionless transformations:
decomposition of solid solutions; ordering reactions, spinodal decomposition; eutectoid,
bainitic and martensitic transformations.

Learning Outcomes
Enhanced critical thinking, analytical and problem solving skills in materials science and
engineering. An understanding of the principles underlying liquid-to solid and solid-state phase
transformations in a range of materials. An understanding of the importance of phase
transformations w.r.t. heat treatment for controlling microstructure and properties in
engineering alloys.
 REFERENCES
Phase Transformations in Metals and Alloys (This is the major reference for this course)
D.A.Porter, K.E. Easterling, and M.Y. Sharif
CRC Press , Taylor & Francis Group
Diffusion in solids
Prof. Alok Paul , IISC Banglore
NPTEL Web course
Phase Transformations
Prof. Anandh Subramaniam IIT Kanpur
Steel heat treatment : Metallurgy and Technologies
Geroge E. Totten
CRC Press , Taylor & Francis Group
Heat Treatment : Principles and Techniques
T.V.Rajan, C.P.Sharma and Ashok Sharma
PHI Learning Private Limited
Heat Treatment of Materials
Vijendra Singh
Standard Publishers Distributors, Delhi
Phase Transformations & Heat Treatment
Prof. M.P.Gururajan
NPTEL web course
 Avala Lava Kumar*
Department of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering (MME)
Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT), Burla -768018
*E-mail : lavakumar.vssut@gmail.com
 Entropic force
UNIVERSE STRONG
WEAK
HYPERBOLIC ELECTROMAGNETIC
EUCLIDEAN SPACE ENERGY GRAVITY
SPHERICAL
nD + t
PARTICLES FIELDS

METAL
ATOMIC NON-ATOMIC
SEMI-METAL BAND STRUCTURE
SEMI-CONDUCTOR
INSULATOR STATE / VISCOSITY

LIQUID
GAS SOLID LIQUID CRYSTALS
STRUCTURE

AMORPHOUS QUASICRYSTALS RATIONAL CRYSTALS

APPROXIMANTS
SIZE

NANO-QUASICRYSTALS NANOCRYSTALS
 Classification of materials
Materials
Composites: have two (or more)
solid components; usually one is a
Monolithic Hybrids
matrix and other is a reinforcement
Metals (& Alloys) Composite
Sandwich structures: have a
Ceramics & Glasses material on the surface (one
Sandwich or more sides) of a core
material
Polymers (& Elastomers)
Lattice* Structures: typically a
Lattice combination of material and space
(e.g. metallic or ceramic forms,
aerogels etc.).
Segment

Segmented Structures: are Hybrids are

designed to improve
divided in 1D, 2D or 3D certain properties of
(may consist of one or monolithic materials
more materials).

*Note: this use of the word 'lattice' should not be confused with the use of the word in connection with crystallography.
 Length scales in metallurgy
• Casting
Thermo-mechanical • Metal Forming
Treatments • Welding
Crystal • Powder Processing
• Machining

Atom Structure Microstructure Component

Electro-
magnetic Phases + Defects + Residual Stress
& their distribution
Structure could imply two types of structure: • Vacancies
Crystal structure
Electromagnetic structure
• Dislocations
Fundamentally these aspects are two sides of the same • Twins
coin • Stacking Faults
Microstructure can be defined as: • Grain Boundaries
(Phases + Defect Structure + Residual Stress) and their
distributions
• Voids
Microstructure can be ‘tailored’ by thermo-mechanical • Cracks
treatments

Processing determines shape and microstructure of a component

 Length scales in metallurgy

Let us start with a cursory look at the length scales involved in Materials Science

Dislocation Stress fields

Angstroms → Nanometers Microns Centimeters
Unit Cell* Crystalline Defects Microstructure Component
Grain Size

*Simple Unit Cells

 Transformations in Materials

Phases Defects Residual stress

Phases can transform Defect structures can change Stress state can be altered

Phase Defect structure Stress-state

transformation transformation transformation

Geometrical Physical
Structural Property

Phases Microstructure

Phases Transformations Microstructural Transformations

 Classification of Transformations

Thermodynamics Order of a phase transformation

Ehrenfest, 1930

Classification of Based on Reconstructive Civilian

Phase Mechanism
Transformations Buerger, 1951 Displacive Military

Non-quenchable Athermal → Rapid

Kinetics
le Chatelier, (Roy 1973) Quenchable Thermal → Sluggish
 Classification of Transformations
The thermodynamic characteristics
associated with the phase transformations
can be used to classify transformations; in
this classification methodology, if the nth
derivative of free energy (G) with respect to
temperature (T) and pressure (P) is
discontinuous, it is defined as the nth order
transformation.
As shown in Fig., in transformations such as
melting, the first derivative has the
discontinuity; hence, melting is a first order
transformation; on the other hand, in some
of the order/disorder transformations, it is
the second derivative which is
discontinuous, making it the second order
transformation.
Figure: The thermodynamic classification of transformations:
the first derivative of the free energy ‘G’ with respect to
temperature ‘T’ , that is the enthalpy ‘H’ is discontinuous at the
transformation temperature Tc as shown in the first column; the
second derivative of the free energy with respective to
temperature Cp is discontinuous while ‘H’ is not in the second
column, making the order of transformation second.
 Classification of Transformations
Classification of Transformations

Heterogeneous Transformations Homogeneous Transformations

(nucleation and growth)
Spinodal decomposition
Order-disorder transformation

GROWTH CONTROLLED GROWTH CONTROLLED BY GROWTH CONTROLLED BY A THERMAL

BY HEAT TRANSFER HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER THERMALLY ACTIVATED GROWTH
MOVEMENTS OF ATOMS
Solidification of pure metals Solidification of alloys Martensite
transformations

SHORT RANGE TRANSPORT LONG RANGE TRANSPORT

(interface controlled)

Polymeric transformations
Continuous Reaction Discontinuous Reaction
Massive transformations
Recrystallization
Grain growth, etc. Precipitation dissolution Eutectoid reactions
Discontinuous precipitation
 Classification of Transformations
Phase transformations can be classified as homogeneous (transformations which take place
through spinodal mechanism in which transformation takes place throughout the material)
and heterogeneous (transformations which take place through nucleation and growth
mechanism in which transformation takes place heterogeneously at a few places in the
material at the start of the transformation).
Transformations can also be classified as diffusional (or, so called, `civilian') and
diffusionless (or, so called `military') depending on the mechanism. In civilian
transformations, the nucleation and growth take place via diffusion assisted atomic motion.
On the other hand, in the military transformation, the nucleation and growth is by shear and
shuffle of atoms by less than one atomic displacement and the movement of all the
participating atoms is coordinated.
There are transformations which are thermally activated (which typically are based on
diffusion) while there are others which are athermal.
The transformations can also be diffusion controlled or interface controlled.
Transformations can also be differentiated based on whether the interfaces formed are
glissile or nonglissile.
In some transformations there are compositional changes while in some other there are no
composition changes.
Further, transformations which are diffusional can either involve long range diffusion or
short range diffusion.
THANK YOU...!