Heat treatment and steel

TTT & CTT Diagram

• The first step in constructing a TTT diagram involves austinising the sample.
• Due to their nature and type of work, they may also be known as isothermal transformation
diagrams or Bain’s curves or S curves or C curves.
• Isothermal transformations of eutectoid steel between 723°C and 550°C bring into being a
pearlitic microstructure.
• Rapid quenching above 723°C transforms the austenitic condition into martensitic condition.
• If eutectoid steels in austenitic condition are hot-quenched in a 550°C to 250°C range, they
are isothermally transformed into bainite.
• Upper bainite is formed by the isothermal transformation between 550~350°C. Lower bainite
is formed between 350~250°C which has much finer cementite particles.
• The slowest rate of cooling of austenite that results in 100% martensite transformation is
called a critical cooling rate.
Annealing
Full annealing
• Full annealing method is used to soften the material, to refine crystalline structure, and relieve
stresses.
• This method is applied to steel castings and steel ingots.
• Hypoeutectoid steels : less than 0.77% : 30-60°C above the A3 line (723~910°C): Cooled
within the furnace by decreasing the temp. 10-30℃ per hour, to at least 30°C below A1 line.
• Product : coarse pearlite with excess ferrite
• hypereutectoid steels : greater than 0.77% : 30-60°C above the A1 line (723|~1138°C): Cooled
within the furnace by decreasing the temp. 10-30℃ per hour, to at least 30°C below A1 line.
• Product : coarse pearlite with excess cementite
Process annealing
• Process annealing is a method used to soften and increase the ductility of a previously
strain-hardened metal of low carbon steel.
• Heated to a temperature slightly below the A1 line, which ranges between 550°C and 650°C.
• This process is otherwise known as subcritical annealing.
Stress relief annealing
• Stress relief annealing is otherwise also known as commercial annealing.
• Stress relief annealing is carried out to remove these stresses caused by castings, quenching,
machining, welding etc. 
Normalising
• Normalising is a heat treatment process that is used to make a metal
more ductile and tough after it has been subjected to thermal or mechanical hardening
processes.
• This heating and slow cooling alters the microstructure of the metal which in turn reduces its
hardness and increases its ductility.
• For hypoeutectoid steels, normalising is done by heating the steel 50-60°C above its upper
critical temperature (A3 line). For hypereutectoid steels, it is heated above the Acm line. 
• Normalising produces microstructure containing ferrite (white network) and pearlite (dark
area)
• This process is particularly employed for low and medium carbon steels, as well as alloy
steels.
• Anneling : furnace cooling (more ductile)
• Normalising : air cooling (less ductile)
• The faster cooler rate can cause a material to have slightly less ductility and a slightly higher
hardness value than if the material had been annealed.
• Non uniform material properties across the part .
• Surface will experience faster cooling so fine grain at surface and course grain at core part .
• Cheaper process
• Fine pearlite struture appears which is unresolved with optical microscope .
• Apply process to unalloyed and low alloyed hypoeutectoid steel.
Martempering
• Martempering is also known as stepped quenching or interrupted quenching used to reduse
residual stresses.
• In this process, steel is heated above the upper critical point (above the 
transformation range) and then quenched in a salt, oil, or lead bath kept at a temperature
mantained above Ms at 150 ~ 300 °C. After that it is cooled in air or oil to room temperature. 
• Austenite is transformed to martensite  by step quenching, at a rate fast enough to avoid the
formation of ferrite, pearlite or bainite.
• By using interrupted quenching, the cooling is stopped at a point above the martensite
transformation region to ensure sufficient time for the center to cool to the same
temperature as the surface.
• The stresses and strains generated during the quenching of a steel component can be
controlled.
• The drawback of this process is that the large section cannot be heat treated by this process.
• Martempering reduces the possibility of crack but not totally eliminate .

Austempering
• Austempering is heat treatment that is applied to ferrous metals, most notably steel and
ductile iron.
• In steel it produces bainite microstructure whereas in cast irons it produces a structure of
acicular ferrite and high carbon, stabilized  austenite known as ausferrite.
• It is primarily used to improve mechanical properties or reduce / eliminate distortion ,
increses ductility and toughness.
• Workpiece at the quenching temp. for an extended period of time.
• This is isothermal transformation of ferrous alloy at temp below pearlite formation and above
martensite formation.

Tempering
• Tempering is a process of heat treating, which is used to increase the toughness
 of iron-based alloys. Tempering is usually performed after hardening, to reduce some of the
excess hardness.
• Tempering is a process of heating martensite steel below the eutectoid transformation
temperature (250~650°C)
• When this martensite steel is heated at temperatures as low as 200°C, internal stresses are
relieved.
• This heat treatment process transforms martensite (BCT, single phase) into tempered
martensite (α+Fe3C) by the diffusional process.
• To achieve greater toughness by decreasing the hardness of the alloy. 

• Temper embrittlement occurs when the steel is tempered above 575oC which is followed by
slow cooling to room temperature.
• Sorbite : High Temp. : Hard : 500~650°C
• Troosite : Low Temp. : Ductile : 350~450°C

Hardening
• Heated hypo eutectoid steel above upper critical temp. and hyper eutectiod steel above lower
critical temp.
• Cooled specimen by oil quenching
• Austenite convert into martensite
• Retained austenite form at cetral core area
• Depth of martensite form at outer area known as hardenability
• Best suitable for medium and high carbon steel.
• Due to rapid cooking, austenite is supercooled by nearly 500°C. The large force helps convert
the FCC into BCT structure. The resulting structure is called martensite.
• Due to the presence of carbon in the lattice, slip does not occur. As a result, martensite is
strong, hard, and brittle.
• As the carbon content increases, the hardness also increases. Due to this, the hardening
process is carried out on high carbon steels containing 0.35~0.50% C.
Jominy end-quench test
• The given sample of material is heated above the upper critical temperature. It is then
quenched at one end at 25°C.
• After cooling , a flat is ground along the length of the bar.
• Rockwell C hardness readings are then taken for every 1.6 mm along the length from the
quenched end, which are then plotted in the form of a graph.

A} Case or surface Hardening

• The treatment of steel to get a stronger casing while maintaining a soft core is called Surface
hardening
• Best suitable are low carbon steel.
• Hardening and selective hardening : medium and high c~steel

1] Carburizing
• Heated steel in furnace containing CO or container packed with charcoal or charred leather.
• Energizer making up 40% of the total composition. The energizer is composed of soda ash
and barium carbonate.
• Steels used in carburizing contain carbon content of 0.10~0.20%.
• Atomic carbon from CO diffuses in surface.
• Done at 950℃ and maintain for 6 hrs.
• Quenching required
• Electroplating is done after carburising.
• Case deapth 1.38 mm

2] Nitriding
• The parts are heat treated at around 500℃ for a period of 40 to 100 hours in gas-tight
chamber through which ammonia gas is allowed to circulate.
• No quenching required.
• More expensive , harder and stronger than carburizing.
• Nitriding is generally not preferred for plain carbon steels.
• Atmospheric nitrogen is not suitable for nitriding process cannot be absorbed by the steel
• Done at 650℃.
• Case deapth 0.38

3] Cyaniding
• Fast and efficient
• Plain carbon steels and alloying steels containing 0.2% carbon are hardened using this
process.
• Preheated steel dipped in Cyanide bath
• Then quenched and rinsed to redused residual cyanide.
• Takes 20-30 min.
• Done at 950℃.
• It also lowers warping and distortion while increasing the corrosion and wear resistance.
• Case deapth 0.25

Summary:
Carburizing : 6 hrs : 950 : 1.38 mm
Nitriding : 40-400 hrs : 650 : 0.38 mm
Cyaniding : 20-30 m : 950 : 0.25 mm

4] Carbonitriding
• Carbonitriding may also be called as gas-cyaniding or dry-cyaniding.
• Using a carburizing gas such as propane or methane mixed with ammonia.
• The workpiece is heated to 850℃ in the mixture of gases for 2-10 hours followed by
quenching and then tempering (180℃).
• Case deapth 0.5

B} Selective Hardening

1] Flame hardening
• This process can only be performed with steels with a high carbon content of at least
0.4%~0.95
• Heated to a temp above its upper critical temperature done by using an oxy-acetylene torch.
• Adv - there is no distortion of workpiece
• cost of equipment is low.
• Dis-Ad - overheating of the steel may cause cracks.
2] Induction hardening
• Heat source is derived from the resistance to induced eddy currents.
• The depth varies inversely as the square root of the frequency.
• The typical frequencies used are 3000 Hz for 3-6 mm depth and 9600 Hz for 2-3 mm depth.
• Adv - very less time, (10 seconds)
• both external and internal surfaces can be hardened
• Does not give any scaling effect, the machining is reduced
• surface remains clean in induction hardening.

Cast Iron
There are four basic types of cast iron
white iron
gray iron
ductile iron
malleable iron

White Cast Iron

• Characterized by the prevalence of carbides .
• Carbon is in form of cementite needles in pearlite matrix .
• It has lower silicon content and low melting point . (White=lower)
• high hardness.
• good resistance to wear , It is abrasive resistant as well as cost-effective .
• applications like lifter bars and shell liners in grinding mills, wear surfaces of pumps, balls and
rings of coal pulverisers, etc .

Gray Cast Iron

• Most versatile and widely used cast iron.
• High silicon content (grey=high)
• The graphite flakes make the grey cast iron exhibit low shock resistance.
• They also lack elasticity and have low tensile strength. good machinability and damping
characteristics.
• Good compressive strength .
• good resistance to wear and galling
• Good fluidity in casting so useful in industries like agriculture, automobile, textile mills, etc.

Ductile / Nodular / spheroidal Cast Iron

• Gray iron with small amounts of magnesium and cesium which nodulates the graphite, 
• The magnesium reacts with oxygen and sulphur in the molten iron leading to nodule shaped
graphite that has earned them the name-nodular cast iron.
• high strength , high ductility

Malleable Cast Iron

• White cast iron heat-treated by anealing
• the graphite structure is formed into irregularly shaped spheroidal particles rather than flakes
that are usually present in gray cast iron.
• higher ductility and good machinability

Chilled Cast Iron

• Has no graphite.
• Outer layer : fast cooling
• Inner layer : slow cooling
• Manganese sulphide increase/s chilled depth for chilled cast irons
•

mottled cast iron,

• Carbon is available in partly in free and partly in combined state. 

Steel

Austenite
• Ductile
• Non magnetic
• Softness
• FCC structure
@-Ferrite
• BCC Structure
• Magnetic
Cementite
• Fe3C
• 6.7% carbon + 93.3 iron
• Orthorhombic structure
• Metastable phase
• Hard and brittle
Perlite
• 2 phased laminar structure
• Ferrite(87.5)+ cementite(12.5)
• alternating layers of ferrite
• Diffusion dependent transformation
• 0.76 % of carbon out of total structure
• Thickness ratio = F : C : : 8 : 1
• At high temp : course pearlite
• At Low temp : fine pearlite
Martensite
• Body centred tetragonal structure (BCT)
• Form by diffusionless transformation
• Martensite is a super-saturated solution of carbon in alpha iron.
Bainite
• Diffusion dependent transformation
• Tough
• Bainite in iron-carbon alloys can be defined as an austenitic decomposition product.
• It has a non-lamellar eutectoid structure containing α ferrite and cementite (Fe3C).
Wrought iron
• Least % of carbon
• Wrought Iron (%C<0.08)
• High resistance to rusting or corrosion
• Easily weldable
• Non uniform strength

Hyperectectoid : cementite + pearlite

Hypoectectoid : ferrite + pearlite
• Complete cementite after 6.67%

1. Carbon Steel

Mild or Low Carbon Steels, contain up to 0.32 %C

Medium Carbon Steels, containing 0.30~0.59 %C

High Carbon Steels, known to contain over 0.6~0.99 %C

Ultra-high Carbon Steels that usually contain about 1.0~2.0 %C

2. Alloy Steels

Alloy steels contain common alloy metals in varying proportions, which makes this type of steel
suitable for specific applications.

These alloy metals include aluminum, manganese, nickel, titanium, silicon,

copper, and chromium, the addition of which produces properties that are different from those
found in regular carbon steels.

When added, alloying elements can change properties like strength, ductility, formability,
hardenability, and ability to resist corrosion.

Alloy steels can have diverse mechanical properties due to the broad range of compositions
possible. Because of these properties, alloys steels serve a broad range of applications
including the manufacture of pipelines, transformers, auto parts, electric motors and power
generators.

3. Tool Steels

This type of steel is alloyed at very high temperatures and often contains hard metals
like tungsten, cobalt, molybdenum and vanadium. Since they are not only heat resistant but also
durable, tool steels are often used for cutting and drilling equipment.

Even so, there are various types of tools steels, each containing varying quantities of different
alloy metals. As a result, each type of tool steel offers a different level of heat resistance and
durability.

4. Stainless Steels

Although stainless steels comprise of several metal alloys, they usually contain (10-20 %
chromium), making it the primary alloying element. Compared to the other forms of steel,
stainless steels are approximately 200 times more resistant to rusting, especially the types
that contain at least 11 percent chromium. As a result, stainless steel is highly valued for its
ability to resist corrosion. Based on their crystalline structure, stainless steels fall into one of the
following categories:

A. Austenitic steels
Nickel (8 percent)
Carbon (0.08 percent)
chromium (18 percent)
applications : manufacture of pipes, kitchen utensils, and food processing equipment, austenitic
steels are the most commonly used type of stainless steel. Even though austenitic steels are not
responsive to heat treatments.
They are valued for their non-magnetic properties.

B. Ferritic steels
trace amounts of nickel,
less than 0.1 percent carbon
chromium (12-17 percent)
ferritic steels usually contain alloy metals like molybdenum, aluminum or titanium in small
quantities.
Ferritic steels are magnetic, tough, and very strong.
However, cold working can be used to strengthen them further.
Unfortunately, they are not responsive to heat treatment, meaning no heating technique can be
used to harden them.

C. Martensitic steels
carbon (about 1.2 percent)
nickel (less than 0.4 percent),
chromium (11-17 percent )
Aside from having magnetic properties, martensitic steels are also responsive to heat
treatments.
This type is mainly used to make dental and surgical equipment, blades, knives, and several
other cutting tools.

Properties

Carbon
Affect on critical temperature of steel

Aluminium
Inhibit grain growth in austenite during heat treatment

Silicon
Large amounts of silicon increases magnetic properties
Strong deoxidizer

Vanadium
Forms hard carbide
Increases resistance to shock
In small quantity inhibitor in grain growth
Increase endurance strength

Cobalt
Improve Cutting ability,reducses hardenability

Sulphur
Lower toughness and transverse ductility

Chromium
Improve Cutting ability , wear resistance and toughness
Increase depth of hardeness of steel

Manganese
Tensile strength
Make steel tougher and harder

Molybdenum
Increase lower critical temperature
Increase creep strength

Tungsten
Increase hot hardness

Titanium
prevent formation of austenite in high chromium steels

Ferrtic Stabilizer
Chromium , molybdenum , tungsten

Deoxidizer
Aluminium and silicon

Material application

Lighter duty bearing

Phosphor bronze

Heavier duty bearing

White metal

Cobalt : binding material of cementite carbide tool

Ball of ball bearing
Carbon chrome steel

Pipe of bicycle frame

Cold rolled steel

Nomenclature
• Fe E 250 : Minimum tensile strength of 250 N/mm2
• FG 200 : Grey cast iron with ultimate tensile strength of 200
• 40C8 : 0.4 % carbon , 0.8% maganese
• 30Ni16Cr5 : alloy steel carbon 0.3% of average, Nickel 16%, chromium 5%
• X15Cr25Ni12 : high alloy steel carbon 0.15% of average, chromium 25%, Nickel 12%
• C56: 0.56% of carbon
• X2CrNi18-9 : Carbon 0.2 , Chromium 18, Nickel 9%
• 18/8 stainless steel : 18% Chromium ,8% Nickel
• 18-4-1 HSS : 18% W, 4% Cr, 1% V
•
Other Points
• Babbit metal is a 88% tin 10% antinomy 2% copper (Trick BTAC)
• Inconol nickel alloy contains : 75% Ni, 15% Cr and 9% Fe
• In Muntz metal, if 1% of tin is added it form naval brass.
• Brazing brass is α – β brass
• Maximum hardness obtain by Nitriding in all quenching process
• Cyaniding is most of used in small cases on small parts like worms,springs, nuts.
• Oxidising process used for aluminum and magnesium articles metal is anodising.
• Perlite is the last phase obtained after completing heat treatment cycle in patenting process.
• As % of carbon in increases in steel , MP of that metal decreases.
• The path of contact in cycloidal gear is: circle
• Decreasing grain size in a polycrystalline material Increases yield strength and corrosion
resistance.
• Carbon in iron : interstitial solid solution
Brass : Substitutional solid solution
• Weld decay stainless steel
• Residual Strsses : Tensile stress on surface and compressive stress in core.
• Mild steel < aluminum steel < alloy steel < HSS steel
• Tungsten : Chromium : Vanadium : :18 : 4 :1
• In microscopy, Bright field illumination is illumination parameter is used for producing images
with dark non-flat structure and bright back ground .
• Dark-field microscopy describes microscopy methods, in both light and electron microscopy,
which exclude the unscattered beam from the image. 
• recalescence in cooling curves is Liberated heat increases temperature of an under cooled
liquid metal during nucleation
• The cooling curve formed when a material is solidified due to latent heat of fusion is called as
thermal arrest.
• In Iron-Carbon equilibrium diagram, at 210℃ temperature cementite changes from
ferromagnetic to paramagnetic character.
• Bainite transformation is starts after the nucleation of ferrite phase
• Methods to check hardenability
1. Gross Man's method
2. Jominy end test
• At room temperature, hardness of precipitation hardening alloys increases with time
• In mottled cast iron, slow cooling rate is used to obtain grey cast iron.
• In monotropic system, transition of one polymorph to another is irreversible.
• etching reagent used for carbon steels
Nitric acid
Picric acid
• Pearlite is the last phase obtained after completing heat treatment cycle in patenting
process.
• desulphurising agent is used to remove sulphur from iron during melting :
Calcium carbide
Sodium carbonate
Soda ash
• Decreasing grain size in a polycrystalline material Increases yield strength and corrosion
resistance.
• Many metal with HCP crystal structure commonly show brittle fracture
• Increase of ferrite phase in steel increases strength.

Last modified: 6 Jun 2020