Heat treatments of steel

Heat treatment:
a combination of heating and cooling operations,
timed and applied to a metal or alloy in the solid state in
a way that will produce desired properties.
Types of Heat treatment:
the various heat-treatment processes can be
classified as follows:
1. Annealing.
2. Normalising.
3. Hardening.
4. Tempering.
Heat treatments of steel
Heat treatments of steel
1. Annealing:
this process consists in heating the steel to the
proper temperature and then cooling slowly in the
furnace.
annealing processes for steels can be classified as
follows:
a. Stress-relief annealing.

b. Spheroidising anneals.

c. Annealing of castings.
Heat treatments of steel

Annealing of castings.

Spheroidising anneals.

Stress-relief annealing.
Heat treatments of steel

a. Stress-relief annealing.
this process is useful in removing residual stresses
due to heavy machining or other cold-working
processes. It is usually carried out at temperatures below
the lower critical temperature (540-650˚C ).

b. Spheroidising anneals.
the spheroidised condition is produced by
annealing the steel at a temperature between 650-700 ˚C,
that is, just below the lower critical temperature A1 .
When in this condition such steel can be drawn and will
also machine relatively readily.
Heat treatments of steel
Heat treatments of steel
c. Annealing of castings.
this process is useful in refining the grains and
improving ductility and toughness of the casting. It is
usually carried out at 40˚C above the upper critical
temperature A3 for hypoeutectoid steel and above the
lower critical temperature for hypereutectoid steel.
2. Normalising:
the normalising of steel is carried out by heating
approximately 40 ˚C above the upper critical
temperature A3 followed by cooling in still air to room
temperature. The purpose of normalising is to produce a
harder and stronger steel than full annealing (annealing
of castings).
Heat treatments of steel

Normalising
Heat treatments of steel

Carbon content
Heat treatments of steel