ISSN 2456-219X Volume 1 Issue 2, Page 64-68

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Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Biomechanics
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Effects of Thermal Treatment on Mechanical Properties and

Grain size of En8 Steel
S S Sharma*, Anudeep Mallarapu **, Hiteshwar Upparapalli ***, Chirag Rai****
*
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal University;Manipal;India
**Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal University;Manipal;India
***
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal University;Manipal;India
****
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal University;Manipal;India

________________________________________________________________________ Research Article

Abstract

Steels are generally thermally (heat) treated in order to achieve desirable changes in their Article History
microstructure and mechanical properties. The Effects of heat treatment cycles on the microstructure Received 18/06/2016
and some mechanical properties of En8 steel have been studied and presented in this paper. The heat Revised 06/07/2016
treatment cycles given are annealing, normalising and hardening. Sample of steel is purchased and Accepted 07/07/2016
various specimens are prepared for tests of mechanical properties. The changes in properties (tensile
yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, fracture strength, percentage elongation, hardness and grain
size) are examined and studied. Standard tests are performed to find the properties and the
microstructure is observed using metallurgical microscope. Result analysis showed increment in
mechanical properties of En8 steel with suitable heat treatment cycles.

2016 Published by Rational Publication.

Keywords: Heat treatment, En8 steel, mechanical properties, microstructure

1. Introduction

Heat treatment is a process of heating and cooling in solid state at a required rate which is applied to change the
properties of several engineering materials as per the requirement. Annealing, normalising and hardening are the three
most common heat treatment cycles given to steels. Annealing is generally used as a softening treatment [1]-[3]. It is
used to relieve internal stresses, restore ductility and enhance machinability. Normalising involves cooling at a slightly
faster rate than annealing. Hardening is the process of sudden cooling of the material from a high temperature [4],[5].

Steel is one of the most common materials used in engineering since it can be found in a variety of
microstructures and available in different forms. It is an alloy of iron with carbon content less than 2%. There are
various types of steel with various compositions of carbon and alloying elements [3].

2. Material Composition

The spectrometric analysis of EN8 steel used in this study is shown in Table1. EN8 is generally used for parts
such as general-purpose axles and shafts, gears, bolts and studs. EN8 steel in its heat treated forms possesses good
homogenous metallurgical structures, giving consistent machining properties.

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*Corresponding Author : Anudeep Mallarapu
Email Address: anudeepmallarapu@gmail.com
 Sharma. S. S et al.,
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Table1: Spectrometric analysis of EN8 steel
Carbon Silicon Manganese Sulphur Phosphorus
0.39% 0.13% 0.68 0.05 0.05

3. Methods used

3.1. Specimen Preparation and Heat Treatment

The ASTM E18-02 standard specimen is prepared for tensile test and cylindrical specimens are prepared for
hardness and microstructure evaluation by turning, shaping and polishing. Three sets out of four sets are subjected to
three types of heat treatment namely annealing, normalising and hardening and one set is left without heat treatment.
All the three sets to be subjected to heat treatment are first heated to 900o C for two hours. One set to be hardened is
quenched in water, second set to be normalised is cooled in air, while the set to be annealing is cooled in the furnace
slowly after switching off the furnace. Each set contains three number of identical test specimens for individual tests
and average reading of two identical readings is recorded as the property outcome.

3.2. Determination of mechanical properties

Heat treated and untreated specimens tensile properties are determined using electronic tensometer. The Brinell
hardness numbers are determined using Brinell hardness tester.

3.3. Microstructure examination

The heat treated and untreated specimens are finely polished and suitably etched with Nitol to make the
microstructure clearly visible and the surface was observed under a microscope. The images obtained by the
microscope are observed and analysed. The grain size is obtained using a software called Envision 5.0.

4 results

4.1. Effect of heat treatment on mechanical properties

Table2: Mechanical properties of EN8 steel

Hardness Yield Tensile Fracture Peak - Break - Grain Size
Treatment BHN Strength Strength Strength Elongation Elongation number
N/mm2 N/mm2 N/mm2 % %
Annealing 201.2 286.06 419.6 323.49 28.67 39.04 6.5
Normalizing 249.4 396.41 583.1 478.07 18.17 26.51 5.5
Hardening 280.6 646.54 672.1 565.00 11.02 15.74 7
Un treated 248.4 372.26 531.8 404.18 23.53 36.26 7

The mechanical properties results are shown in Table 2.The changes in the mechanical properties are clearly
visible from the Fig.1 to 5. Annealing is the softening process wherein hardness of the material decreases
approximately by 20%, almost same in normalising, increases by nearly 17% compared to untreated specimen. Tensile
results shows similar trend with respect to heat treatment. The gap between yield, strength and fracture strengths
decreases as hardness increases [6],[7]. This is the clear measure of brittleness incurred on the specimen. It is also
supported by the reduction in the %elongation. Due to this effect hardened specimens may show lesser impact
resistance compared to annealed or normalised. This is due to the microstructural changes happening as per the heat
treatment. Generally annealed structure shows pearlitic structure with larger interlamellar distance compared to
normalised even though same two phase structure is obtained. Hardened shows single phase martensitic structure
which is supersaturated in nature formed by severe lattice distortion [8],[9]. Lattice distortion is the measure of degree
of brittleness.

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The microstructure after different heat treatment cycles are observed in metallurgical microscope and the grain
size number is found out using software installed in the set up. As the cooling rate increases grains are becoming finer
[10].This is due to the increase in the number of nuclei during the increase in cooling rate or degree of super cooling.
The rate of nucleation is higher and rate of crystal growth is faster as the cooling rate or degree of super cooling
increases. Accordingly hardened specimen shows finer grains compared to normalised and annealed is coarser. The
grain size number distribution of microstructure in different heat treatment conditions are shown in Fig. 6.

Yield Strength
700
600
500
400
300
200 Yield Strength
100 N/mm2
0

Fig. 1 Yield Strength with respect to heat treatment conditions

Tensile Strength
800
700
600
500
400
300
200 Tensile Strength
100 N/mm2
0

Fig 1 Tensile Strength with respect to heat treatment conditions

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Fracture Strength
600
500
400
300
200
Fracture Strength
100
N/mm2
0

Fig. 2 Fracture Strength with respect to heat treatment conditions

45
40
35
30
25
20
15 Peak - Elongation %
10 Break - Elongation %
5
0

Fig. 3 Percentage Elongation with respect to heat treatment conditions

Hardness
300
250
200
150
Hardness
100
50
0
Annealing Normalizing Hardening Ascast

Fig. 4 Brinell Hardness Number with respect to heat treatment conditions

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Grain Size
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Annealing Normalizing Hardening Un treated

Fig. 6 Grain size number with respect to heat treatment conditions

5 Conclusions

The following conclusions are arrived based on the experimental results:

The reference steel is successfully heat treated with considerable alterations in the properties considered.
Hardening has resulted in higher tensile strength and hardness as compared to annealing and normalising. There is
considerable reduction in ductility in hardening process due to the formation of distorted structure martensite.
Normalising has resulted in increasing the strength and hardness slightly whereas the ductility reduced. Annealing
enhanced the ductility but reduced the values of hardness and strength. Hardened specimen shows finer grains
compared to normalised and annealed is coarser.

References

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