Heat Treatment of Steels - The Processes

Topics Covered
The Softening Processes
Annealing
Normalising
The Hardening Processes
Hardening
Tempering
Thermochemical Processes
Carburising
Nitriding
Boronising
Processing Methods

The Softening Processes

Annealing
Used variously to soften, relieve internal stresses, improve machinability and to develop
particular mechanical and physical properties.

In special silicon steels used for transformer laminations annealing develops the particular
microstructure that confers the unique electrical properties.

Annealing requires heating to above the As temperature, holding for sufficient time for
temperature equalisation followed by slow cooling. See Curve 2 in Figure 1.
 Figure 1. An idealised TTT curve for a plain carbon steel.

Normalising
Also used to soften and relieve internal stresses after cold work and to refine the grain size
and metallurgical structure. It may be used to break up the dendritic (as cast) structure of
castings to improve their machinability and future heat treatment response or to mitigate
banding in rolled steel.

This requires heating to above the As temperature, holding for sufficient time to allow
temperature equalisation followed by air cooling. It is therefore similar to annealing but
with a faster cooling rate. Curve 3 in Figure I would give a normalised structure.

The Hardening Processes

Hardening
In this process steels which contain sufficient carbon, and perhaps other alloying elements,
are cooled (quenched) sufficiently rapidly from above the transformation temperature to
produce Martensite, the hard phase already described, see Curve 1 in Figure 1.

There is a range of quenching media of varying severity, water or brine being the most
severe, through oil and synthetic products to air which is the least severe.
Tempering
After quenching the steel is hard, brittle and internally stressed. Before use, it is usually
necessary to reduce these stresses and increase toughness by 'tempering'. There will also be
a reduction in hardness and the selection of tempering temperature dictates the final
properties. Tempering curves, which are plots of hardness against tempering temperature.
exist for all commercial steels and are used to select the correct tempering temperature. As
a rule of thumb, within the tempering range for a particular steel, the higher the tempering
temperature the lower the final hardness but the greater the toughness.

It should be noted that not all steels will respond to all heat treatment processes, Table 1
summaries the response, or otherwise, to the different processes.

  Anneal Normalise Harden Temper

Low Carbon <0.3% yes yes no no

Medium Carbon 0.3-0.5% yes yes yes yes

High Carbon >0.5% yes yes yes yes

Low Alloy yes yes yes yes

Medium Alloy yes yes yes yes

High Alloy yes maybe yes yes

Tool Steels yes no yes yes

Stainless Steel (Austenitic eg 304, 306) yes no no no

Stainless Steels (Ferritic eg 405, 430 442) yes no no no

Stainless Steels (Martensitic eg 410, 440) yes no yes yes

Thermochemical Processes
These involve the diffusion, to pre-determined depths into the steel surface, of carbon,
nitrogen and, less commonly, boron. These elements may be added individually or in
combination and the result is a surface with desirable properties and of radically different
composition to the bulk.

Carburising
Carbon diffusion (carburising) produces a higher carbon steel composition on the part
surface. It is usually necessary to harden both this layer and the substrate after carburising.

Nitriding
Nitrogen diffusion (nitriding) and boron diffusion (boronising or boriding) both produce
hard intermetallic compounds at the surface. These layers are intrinsically hard and do not
need heat treatment themselves.

Nitrogen diffusion (nitriding) is often carried out at or below the tempering temperature of
the steels used. Hence they can be hardened prior to nitriding and the nitriding can also be
used as a temper.

Boronising
Boronised substrates will often require heat treatment to restore mechanical properties. As
borides degrade in atmospheres which contain oxygen, even when combined as CO or C02,
they must be heat treated in vacuum, nitrogen or nitrogen/hydrogen atmospheres.

Processing Methods
In the past the thermochemical processes were carried out by pack cementation or salt bath
processes. These are now largely replaced, on product quality and environmental grounds,
by gas and plasma techniques. The exception is boronising, for which a safe production
scale gaseous route has yet to be developed and pack cementation is likely to remain the
only viable route for the for some time to come.

The gas processes are usually carried out in the now almost universal seal quench furnace,
and any subsequent heat treatment is readily carried out immediately without taking the
work out of the furnace. This reduced handling is a cost and quality benefit.
 Table 2 (Part A). Characteristics of the thermochemical heat treatment processes.

Process Temp Diffusing Methods Processing

(°C) Elements Characteristics

Carburisin 900-1000 Carbon Gas. Care needed as high temperature may cause distortion

g Pack.

Salt Bath.

Fluidised Bed.

Carbo- 800-880 Carbon Gas. Lower temperature means less distortion than carburising.

nitriding Nitrogen Fluidised Bed.

mainly C Salt Bath.

Nitriding 500-800 Nitrogen Gas. Very low distortion.

Plasma. Long process times, but reduced by plasma and other new

Fluidised Bed. techniques.

Nitro- 560-570 Nitrogen Gas. Very low distortion.

carburising Carbon Fluidised Bed. Impossible to machine after processing.

mainly N Salt Bath.

Boronising 800-1050 Boron Pack. Coat under argon shield.

All post coating heat treatment must be in an oxygen free

atmosphere even CO and CO2 are harmful.

No post coating machining.

Table 2 (Part B). Characteristics of the thermochemical heat treatment processes.

Process Case Suitable Applications

Characteristics Steels

Carburisin Medium to Mild, low carbon and low alloy steels. High  surface stress conditions.

g deep case. Mild steels small sections <12mm.

Oil quench to Alloy steels large sections.

harden case.
 Surface

hardness 675-

820 HV (57-62

HRC) after

tempering.

Carbo- Shallow to Low carbon steels. High surface stress conditions.

nitriding medium to Mild steels large sections >12mm.

deep case.

Oil quench to

harden case.

Surface

hardness 675-

820 HV (57-62

HRC) after

tempering.

Nitriding Shallow to Alloy and tool steels which contain sufficient Severe surface stress conditions.

medium to nitride forming elements eg chromium, May cinfer corrosion resistance.

deep case. aluminium and vanadium. Molybdenum is Maximum hard ness and temperature stability up

No quench. usually present to aid core properties. to 200°C.

Surface

hardness 675-

1150 HV (57-

70 HRC).

Nitro- 10-20 micron Many steels from low carbon to tool steels. Low to medium surface stress conditions.

carburising compound Good wear resistance.

layer at the Post coating oxidation and impregnation gives

surface. good corrosion resistance.

Further

nitrogen

diffusion zone.

Hardness

depends on

steel type
 carbon & low

alloy 350-540

HV (36-50

HRC) high

alloy & toll up

to 1000 HV

(66 HRC).

Boronising Thickness Most steels from mild to tool steels except Low to high surface stress conditions depending

inversely austenitic stainless grades. on substrate steel.

proportional to Excellent wear resistance.

alloy content

>300 microns

on mild steel

20 microns on

high alloy.

Do not exceed

30 microns if

part is to be

heat treated.

Hardness

>1500 HV

typical.

Techniques and Practice

As we have already seen this requires heating to above the As temperature, holding to
equalise the temperature and then slow cooling. If this is done in air there is a real risk of
damage to the part by decarburisation and of course oxidation. It is increasingly common to
avoid this by ‘bright’ or ‘close’ annealing using protective atmospheres. The particular
atmosphere chosen will depend upon the type of steel.

Normalising
In common with annealing there is a risk of surface degradation but as air cooling is
common practice this process is most often used as an intermediate stage to be followed by
machining, acid pickling or cold working to restore surface integrity.

Hardening
With many components, hardening is virtually the final process and great care must taken
to protect the surface from degradation and decarburisation. The ‘seal quench’ furnace is
now an industry standard tool for carbon, low and medium alloy steels. The work is
protected at each stage by a specially generated atmosphere.

Some tool steels benefit from vacuum hardening and tempering, salt baths were widely
used but are now losing favour on environmental grounds.

Tempering
Tempering is essential after most hardening operations to restore some toughness to the
structure. It is frequently performed as an integral part of the cycle in a seal quench
furnace, with the parts fully protected against oxidation and decarburisation throughout the
process. Generally tempering is conducted in the temperature range 150 to 700°C,
depending on the type of steel and is time dependent as the microstructural changes occur
relatively slowly.

Caution : Tempering can, in some circumstances, make the steel brittle which is the
opposite of what it is intended to achieve.

There are two forms of this brittleness

Temper Brittleness which affects both carbon and low alloy steels when either, they are
cooled too slowly from above 575°C, or are held for excessive times in the range 375 to
575°C. The embrittlement can be reversed by heating to above 575°C and rapidly cooling.

Blue Brittleness affects carbon and some alloy steels after tempering in the range 230 to
370°C The effect is not reversible and susceptible steels should not be employed in
applications in which they sustain shock loads.

If there is any doubt consult with the heat treater or in house metallurgical department
about the suitability of the steel type and the necessary heat treatment for any application.
Martempering and Austempering
It will be readily appreciated that the quenching operation used in hardening introduces
internal stresses into the steel. These can be sufficiently large to distort or even crack the
steel.

Martempering is applied to steels of sufficient hardenability and involves an isothermal

hold in the quenching operation. This allows temperature equalisation across the section of
the part and more uniform cooling and  structure, hence lower stresses. The steel can then
be tempered in the usual way.

Austempering also involves an isothermal hold in the quenching operation, but the
structure formed, whilst hard and tough, does not require further tempering. The process is
mostly applied to high carbon steels in relatively thin sections for springs or similar parts.
These processes are shown schematically in the TTT Curves, (figures 2a and 3b).

Figure 2. Temperature vs. time profiles for (a) austempering and (b) martempering.

Localised hardening sometimes as flame hardening, laser hardening, RF or induction

hardening and electron beam hardening depending upon the heat source used. These
processes are used where only a small section of the component surface needs to be hard,
eg a bearing journal. In many cases there is sufficient heat sink in the part and an external
quench is not needed. There is a much lower risk of distortion associated with this practice,
and it can be highly automated and it is very reproducible.