Heat Treatment Workshop

Johan Vega, David Rodriguez

Mechanical Engineering, University Santo Tomás

Bogotá, Colombia

johanvegap@usantotomas.edu.co

davidsrodriguezr@usantotomas.edu.co

Abstract- Heat treatments are a fundamental part of
the manufacturing processes of steels in order to
achieve different characteristics of them and their
alloys, since there are a large number of processes
that are applied to each branch in a different way
depending on the purpose, since they affect the
microstructures of the material in a controlled
manner in order to provide properties such as
greater surface hardness or temperature resistance,
among others.
I. INTRODUCTION
and also reduce internal stresses. In annealing you can
find several types of annealing treatments with some
variants, to achieve work with this treatment it is
necessary to make good use of heating and cooling
times. At industrial level, four groups of annealing
treatments are considered:
1.1 Regeneration annealing - Regeneration
annealing is used to soften the steel and regenerate its
structure by heating the material to a temperature
above the critical temperature and then cooling the
material very slowly (see figure 1).

In the day to day with the advancement

of technology is sought to improve and optimize
all types of processes and treatments for
materials, much of this is directed to the quality
of processes that are handled in the industry and
the quality of manufacturing, but to determine
the best is not enough with the experience but it
is also necessary to know the specific treatments
of each material to determine which is the best. Fig. 1 Example of the regeneration annealing procedure.

1.2 Subcritical annealing—Subcritical annealing

is divided into two phases as follows
II. Tratamientos Térmicos

Materials such as metals and alloys, are part of the
materials in which one or more heat treatments can be
managed, from a process managed to modify and thus
improve the microstructure of the material, for
example, hardness, strength, ductility, or greater
strength and therefore longer life for the material,
among others.
1.2.1 Recocido de ablandamiento.The main
objective is to soften the steel in a fast and efficient
process to generate low costs, despite not getting the
lowest hardness, it is usually achieved enough to
perfectly machine the materials; the process is to heat
the material to a temperature below the critical point
and let it cool in the air, (See figure 2).

A. Tratamientos Térmicos más usados

1. El recocido
—One of the most important heat treatments is
annealing, since each material has a specific hardness,
annealing is used to soften, and thus increase ductility

Fig. 2 Example of the softening annealing process.
1.2.3 Annealing against acrimony -The main
purpose of annealing to eliminate acrimony, in order
to achieve greater ductility of steels with low carbon
content (less than 0.40%), is to cold draw them. By
heating to a temperature well below the critical point,
the elongated crystallization of the ferrite can be
destroyed, giving rise to new polyhedral crystals that
are more ductile than the original ones, which allow
the material to be re-stretched or rolled without
difficulty. Cooling is usually done in air for better
annealing (see Figure 3).
Fig. 3 Example of the annealing procedure to eliminate
acritude.
1.3 Recocido esferoidización.—It is used
especially on various kinds of steel, including carbon
steels. This type of treatment is intended to improve
machinability and can be considered as the
intermediate between the regeneration and subcritical
annealing types (see figure 3).
Fig. 3 Example of the spheroidization annealing process.
1.4 Isothermal annealing—This softening
treatment consists of heating the steel above the
critical zone, generally from 740° to 820°, then
lowering the temperature to 600°-700°,' which is kept
constant for several hours, in order to achieve the
complete isothermal transformation of the austenite,
and finally cooling it in air. This treatment is very fast
and is used to obtain lower hardnesses (see figure 4).
Fig. 4 Example of the isothermal annealing process.
2. Templado—The purpose of tempering
treatment is to harden and increase the strength of the
material. For this, the material is heated to a
temperature slightly above the critical temperature
and then rapidly cooled (depending on the
composition and size of the part) in a suitable
medium, water or oil, etc. (See figure 5).
Fig. 5 Example of the tempering procedure.
3. Normalized—To leave a material with a
structure and properties from a theoretical point of
view its initial composition, normalized heat treatment
is used. For this type of treatment it is necessary to
heat the material to a temperature slightly above the
critical temperature (it is allowed to cool in air at
room temperature).
The purpose of this treatment is to return the
material to a normal state, whether it was previously
hot or cold (even with irregular or overheated
cooling); another reason is to reverse a bad treatment.
It is mainly used on carbon or low alloy steels. (see
figure 6).
 ● slips, trips and falls
● unguarded machinery
● working in confined spaces
● exposure to controlled and uncontrolled
energy sources
● contact with hot metal
● exposure to pathogens (legionella)
Fig. 6 Example of the Standard Annealing procedure.
● failures due to automation
4. Tempering—It is used especially on ● inadequate accident prevention and
various kinds of steel, including carbon steels. inspection
This type of treatment is intended to improve ● lack of sanitary facilities and social
machinability and can be considered as the protection
intermediate between the regeneration and
subcritical annealing types (see figure 7).

C. Failures in heat treatment results.

In heat treatment, metallic alloys are also used to

modify the surface chemical structure of materials.
The objective is achieved by the diffusion of
carbon, nitrogen and other solid or gaseous
materials on the surface of the component. These
heat treatment processes are used to obtain surfaces
Fig. 7 Example of the Tempering and Tempering procedure. with a hardness that we have determined and to
B. Practical health and safety recommendations. improve their resistance to material wear, corrosion
and fatigue.
1. Safety Element Standards
Steelworkers may be exposed to a wide variety Parameters and processes that affect the
of hazards, activities or conditions in their composition and material properties of metallic
workplace that can cause incidents, injury and components include the following:
death, illness or disease.
● Alloy type
● Heating
● Cooling
1.2 What are the safety items? ● Work
PPE such as hard hats, tinted lens eye ● Time
protection, face shields, aluminized clothing such ● Atmosphere
as aprons, booties or gaiters and boots should be ● Surface coating
provided to workers in the metallizing and ● Surface diffusion
pouring sections of the foundry.
A readily accessible eye wash fountain should be
provided in any area of the foundry where
sodium silicate is used. TABLE I
Factors affecting the final result of heat treatment
during tempering

1.3 Main risks Most common heat Consequences Possible

treatment failures Solutions
 1. At the moment One of the most
the processes that are carried out with the different
Anneal
when we heat the steel common thoroughly; metals, since they allow us to obtain a better quality in
fast and do not follow consequences is
the corresponding time cracking, splitting, or
temper slowly the result.
measurement. uneven hardness. and evenly.

2. After heating the It will give us a lower Recook it

steel for hours, we hardness than we completely ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
cool it with oil instead expected, with a very
and then
of water. soft center but the We thank Professor Marco Antonio Velasco Peña.
edges will have good temper it, and
structure. then cool it in Bachelor of Science in Industrial Mechanics,
water a little Mechanical Engineer, Master in Engineering -
more sharply. Materials and Processes, PhD in Engineering -
Materials Science and Technology, for explaining to
3. What would
us in class what are the heat treatments.
The consequences we If the steel is
happen if we took would have are not completely
the steel out of the deformations, cracks, REFERENCIAS
oven and cooled it in the material would be
broken, it can
water instead of oil. brittle and therefore be properly
we would have a very annealed and [1] Tratamiento térmico - Servicios - Bodycote Plc. (s. f.).
high hardness. tempered and Home. https://www.bodycote.com/es/servicios/tratamiento-
oil quenched. termico/#:~:text=El%20tratamiento%20térmico%20es
%20un,vida%20útil%20de%20un%20componente.

4. What would happen It's not going to have We have to [2] Apraiz Barriero, J. (1949). Tratamientos térmicos de los
if a steel in the enough of the anneal the steel aceros (273a ed.). Fabrica de artilleria sevilla. (Obra original
tempering process did toughness we're and temper it publicada en 1949).
not reach the required looking for. again correctly to
[3] OFICINA INTERNACIONAL DEL TRABAJO
temperature (low or the temperature
insufficient)? that corresponds GINEBRA. (2005). Repertorio de recomendaciones prácticas
to the type of sobre seguridad y salud en la industria del hierro y el acero
steel.
[4] Levinson, A. (s. f.). Levinson. aceros-plásticos-metales.
https://www.aceroslevinson.com/2012/12/fallas-comunes-en-
5. At the moment we The material would be We would have tratamientos/
leave a steel with left with a higher to normalize the
higher temperature in hardness and a harder treatment and
[5] Garcia, W. A. (2020, 31 de diciembre). ISSUU. LOS
the oven without grain, with possible then temper it
burning it. fissures or cracks in without DEFECTOS EN LOS TRATAMIENTOS TÉRMICOS.
the material that exceeding the https://issuu.com/walteraliagagarcia/docs/manual_los_defect
would make it more temperature. os_del_ttm.docx
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6. When we are The hardness that it This material by Schneider Electric.
tempering a steel, we will give us will be would be of no https://www.eurotherm.com/es/metals-processing-
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7.If a steel is not The surface hardness Preferably grind

machined enough, it is of the material is to erase smooth
a decarburized steel. checked, and although surface.
it is low, the hardness
of the core is adequate
(coarse grains).

III. CONCLUSIONS

Once the theoretical review on the subject of

heat treatments is done, it can be concluded that the
correct use and handling of these is of great
importance for the streamlining and improvement of