Introduction To Materials Science, Chapter 6, Mechanical Properties of Metals

Chapter 6 Outline
Mechanical Properties of Metals
How do metals respond to external loads?

▪ Stress and Strain

➢ Tension
➢ Compression
➢ Shear
➢ Torsion
▪ Elastic deformation

▪ Plastic Deformation
➢ Yield Strength
➢ Tensile Strength
➢ Ductility

HEAT TREATMENTS OF FERROUS

➢ Toughness
➢ Hardness

ALLOYS
Not tested: true stress-true stain relationships, resilience, details
of the different types of hardness tests, variability of material
properties
University of Virginia, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering 1
HEAT TREATMENT
 Heat treatment – controlled heating and cooling
of metals for the purpose of altering their
properties
 at least 90% of all heat-treating operations are
carried out on steel.
 Heat treatment uses:
 Increase strength
 Improving machining characteristics

 Reducing forming forces and energy consumption

 Restoring ductility
HEAT TREATMENT
1) Hardening
 Two-step process:
1. Heating above a critical temperature
2. Rapid cooling (quenching)
 Effect of carbon content of steel on hardness
 0 to 0.3 percent: not practical to harden
 0.3 to 0.7 percent: hardness obtainable increases very

rapidly
 above 0.7 percent: hardness obtainable increases only

slightly with increased carbon content

HEAT TREATMENT
 for most purposes, 0.35 to 0.65 percent carbon
produces high hardness and gives fair toughness,
which is lost if high carbon content is used
 Quenching media
 oil: mild quenching
 water: cheap, fairly good; vaporizes easily, forms air bubbles

causing soft spots

 brine: more severe than water; may lead to rusting
hydroxides: very severe quenching
HEAT TREATMENT
 Hardenability - the ability of a steel to develop
its maximum hardness when subjected to the
normal hardening heating and quenching
cycle. A steel is said to have good hardenability
when it can be fully hardened with relatively
slow cooling.
HEAT TREATMENT
2) Annealing - used to reduce hardness, alter
toughness, ductility, or other mechanical or
electrical properties
 Full annealing: results in a soft and ductile
material
Full Annealing Process involves:
1. Heating for a period of time
2. Slow cooling
FULL ANNEALING
- Imposes uniform cooling conditions at all locations which produces identical
properties
Steps:
1. Metal is heated.
Hypoeutectoid (<0.77% Carbon): 30-60oC above the A3 line
Hypereutectoid steels (>0.77% Carbon): 30-60oC above the A3 line
2. Temperature is maintained until the material transforms to austenite.
3. Cooled at a rate of 10-30oC per hour until it reaches about 30oC below
A1
4. Metal is air cooled to room temperature.
HEAT TREATMENT
 Normalizing
Normalizing involves:
1. Heating

2. Cooling in still air

NORMALIZING
- Cooling is non-uniform,
resulting to non-uniform
properties
Steps:
1. Metal is heated 60oC above line
A1.
2. Held at this temperature until
material transforms to austenite.
3. Metal is cooled to room
temperature using natural
convection.
PROCESS ANNEAL
-Used to treat low-Carbon Steels (<0.25% Carbon)
-Metal produced is soft enough to enable further cold working without fracturing

Steps:
1. Temperature is raised
slightly below A1.
2. Held in this temperature to
allow recrystallization of the
ferrite phase.
3. Cooled in still air at any rate.
STRESS-RELIEF ANNEAL
- Reduces residual stress in large castings, welded assemblis and cold-formed parts

Steps:
1. Metals are heated to temperatures
below A1.
2. Temperature is held for an
extended time
3. Material is slowly cooled.
SPHEROIDIZATION
- Produces a structure where the cementite is in form of small
spheroids dispersed throughout the ferrite matrix

Three ways:
1. prolonged heating at a
temperature below the A1 then
slowly cooling the material
2. cycling between temperatures
slightly above and below the A1
3. for high-alloy steels, heating to
750-800oC or higher and holding
it for several hours
-no significant phase transformations like that of steel
-Three purposes:
1. produce a uniform, homogenous structure
2. provide stress relief
3. bring about recrystallization
- process is usually slowly heating the material to moderate temperatures,
holding it for a certain time to allow change in desired properties to take
place then is slowly cooled
 Stress-relief annealing – reduces tendency for stress-
corrosion cracking
 Tempering – reduce brittleness, increase ductility and
toughness, reduce residual stress
 Austempering – provides high ductility and moderately

high strength
 Martempering – lessens tendency to crack, distort and

develop residual stresses during heat treatment

 Ausforming – ausformed parts have superior mechanical
properties
HEAT TREATMENT FURNACES
 batch furnace
 insulated chamber
 heating system
 access door
HEAT TREATMENT FURNACES
 continuous furnace
 parts are heat treated
continuously through
the furnace on
conveyors or various
designs that use trays,
belts, chains and other
mechanisms
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
 Heat treating
 Part design
 Sharp internal or external corners
 Quenching method
 nonuniform cooling
 Thickness, holes, grooves, keyways, splines,
asymmetrical shapes,
 Cracking and warping