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dictated by the TTT diagram.

We shall now briefly discuss some common heat

treatment processes.

i. Tempering:

This refers to secondary heating of martensite

obtained by a rapid cooling of austenite (Fig. 1.32).
during this process, no change of phase takes place
because the temperature is never raised beyond
the lower critical temperature (723oC) this process
hardens the steel with reduction in strength, also, it
adds to the toughness and ductility. The different
structures, indicated in Fig. 1.32, result from
dispersion of carbides.

ii. Annealing:

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It includes, among others, full annealing, stress

relieving, and process annealing.

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The general purposes served by annealing are –

(a) Alteration of ductility and toughness,

(b) Induction of softness,

(c) Refinement of grain structure, and

(d) Removal of gases and stresses.

Full annealing consists in heating to a suitable

(beyond the critical) temperature, maintaining this
temperature for a definite period of time (to allow
complete transformation into austenite) followed by
slow cooling.

When only the ductility is increased, the process is

called annealing, where the maximum temperature
is lower than the critical temperature.

Stress relieving is similar to process annealing and

the temperature does not go beyond the critical
value. At higher temperatures, the lattice atoms
move to rearrange themselves, relieving the internal
stresses. Also, no change in the micro structure
takes place.

iii. Normalizing:

This process is very similar to annealing. Here, the

specimen is heated beyond the upper critical
temperature and is cooled in still air rather than in
the furnace. Therefore, the rate of cooling gets
increased and this, in turn, results in slight
hardening as well as loss of ductility unlike in
annealing. This process improves strength and
machinability.

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iv. Spheroidizing:

This is a special type of tempering where the

specimen is reheated to just below the lower critical
temperature. By this process, the carbide in the
steel is transformed into a globular form. This
makes the steel relatively soft, machinable, and
suitable for subsequent hardening treatment.

v. Case Hardening:

For low carbon steels, the nose of the TTT diagram

suggests that no practical cooling rate can achieve
direct transformation of austenite into martensite.
One way to solve this problem is to shift the nose to
the right through alloying. However, as hardness is
normally required only at the surface of the
specimen, alloying of the whole specimen is not
necessary.

There are various treatments to impart surface

hardness, such as- (I) carburizing, (II) nitriding, and
(III) cyanide hardening. A process using any of
these treatments is called case hardening.

(I) In carburizing, the specimen is heated beyond

the upper critical temperature in a sealed container
having the atmosphere of carbon. The heating is
continued for 4-10 hours depending on the depth of
penetration required. As a result, carbon diffuses
into the surface layer, making the specimen harder.

(II) Nitrogen, in place of carbon, can also be used

as a hardening agent. Here, the ammonia
atmosphere is used. Also, the temperature required
is about 1/2-1/3 of that in carburizing, but the
heating is continued for a period almost twice that in
carburizing. Normally, alloy steels containing
chromium, vanadium, molybdenum are subjected to
nitriding.

(III) Using the sodium cyanide atmosphere, both

carbon and nitrogen can be effectively employed for
imparting hardness. During heating, the nitrides are
formed, whereas during subsequent quenching, the
carbides are formed. Since heat is dissipated

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through the surface of a specimen, it is possible to

achieve a high cooling rate if the heat content of the
specimen is confined to the surface layer.

Higher hardness is normally required at the surface.

So, if the surface layer is quickly heated to a
suitable high temperature (keeping the core
temperature unaffected) and then rapidly quenched,
the austenite at the surface gets hardened. The two
methods generally used for doing this are (a) flame
heating and (b) induction heating. Such surface
hardening treatments are normally done on steels
containing 0.35% or more carbon.

(a) Flame Hardening:

In this, an oxyacetylene flame is moved over the

specimen followed by a quenching spray (Fig.
1.33). The velocity of the flame and the material
property determine the depth of the layer being
hardened. Flame hardening does not produce any
sharp boundary between the hardened layer and
the core; as a result, there is no danger of the
surface layer chipping out. The flame should be
kept at a sufficient distance from the sharp corners
to avoid overheating.

(b) Induction Hardening:

Here, the heating is done by placing the specimen

in a high frequency magnetic field. The depth of
penetration decreases as the frequency increases.
So, the surface hardening of thin-walled sections
requires high frequency.

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Age Hardening and Precipitation Hardening:

This process of hardening is applicable only for

those alloys that exist as a two-phase material at
the room temperature and can be heated up to a
single phase. The phase diagram of one such alloy
is shown in Fig. 1.34. Assuming that the
composition is 3% Cu and 97% Al, the alloy exists
as a two-phase material (α + β) below a
temperature θ1.

However, between θ1 and θ 2, it exists as a single-

phase solid solution (α). A solution heat treatment
process consists in heating the alloy to a
temperature between θ1 and θ3. Also, a sufficient
time is given at this temperature for the material to
homogenize. A subsequent rapid quenching does
not allow all the β-phase to separate out. Thus, the
solution becomes supersaturated.

This supersaturated β-phase precipitates slowly, the

rate being dependent on the final temperature after
quenching. The precipitation takes place at the
grain boundaries and crystallographic planes,
making the slippage of atomic layers more difficult.
Thus, the alloy becomes harder and stronger.

If the precipitation takes place at the room

temperature, a longer time is necessary for the
completion of precipitation, and this process is
referred to as age hardening. On the other hand, if
the precipitation rate is increased by quenching the
specimen to a temperature higher than the room
temperature, the process then is called precipitation

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