Heat Treatment Terms

Heat treatment – process of controlled heating and cooling of metals in

solid state to obtain certain desirable properties.
Transformation or Critical Temperature – the temperature interval during
which austenite is formed during heating. It is also the temperature
interval during which austenite disappears during cooling.
Austenite - The crystal structure of steel at high temperatures where the
solid solution is able to absorb carbon.
Annealing – heating the metal to a temperature slightly above the critical
temperature and then cooling slowly (usually in the furnace) to
increase the ductility and reduce the hardness of a material.
Normalizing – a form of annealing process in which a metal is cooled in air
after being heated in order to relieve stress to produce a uniform
grain structure before other heat treatments are applied.
Quenching – hardening treatment by rapid cooling from above the critical
temperature by immersion in cold water or other cooling medium.
Degree of hardness depends on the amount of carbon present and
on the rate of cooling.
Tempering or Drawing – reheating the quenched metal below critical
temperature to restore some ductility and reduce brittleness.
Case-hardening or Carburizing – process of hardening the outer portion of
the metal by prolonged heating free from contact with air while the
metal is packed in carbon. The outer metal absorbs and when the hot
metal is quenched this high carbon surface hardens while the low-
carbon core remains soft and ductile.
Cyaniding – case-hardening with potassium cyanide or potassium
ferrocyanide mixed with potassium bichromate substituted for carbon.
Nitriding – a heat treating process that diffuses nitrogen into the surface of
a metal to create a case-hardened surface. Steel and steel alloys
immersed in ammonia fumes. These processes are most commonly
used on high-carbon, low-alloy steels. They are also used on medium
and high-carbon steels, titanium, aluminium and molybdenum.
 Designation of Steels
AISI (American Iron and Steel Institute) & SAE (Society of Automotive
Engineers) Specification numbers
Carbon steels and alloy steels are designated a four digit number,
whereby:
First Digit indicate the main alloying element(s) or class of steel.
1 – Carbon Steel
2 – Nickel Steel
3 – Chrome-nickel (Nickel-chromium) Steel
4 – Molybdenum Steel
5 – Chromium Steel
6 – Chrome-vanadium Steel
7 – Tungsten Steel
8 – National emergency steel/triple-alloy (Nickel-chromium-
molybdenum) steel
9 – silicon-manganese Steel
Second Digit indicate the approximate percentage of the principal alloying
element.
The remaining two (sometimes three) digits represent a number 100 times
the approximate percentage (points of carbon) of carbon present.
AISI prefix system – method of producing the steel
A – Basic Open-Hearth Alloy Steel
B – Acid Bessemer Carbon Steel
C – Basic Open-Hearth Carbon Steel
D – Acid Open-Hearth Carbon Steel
E – Electric Furnace
NE – National Emergency Steel
AISI suffix system
F – free-machining steel
H – material can be bought on hardenability specifications
Example: SAE 1030
First digit: 1 – Carbon Steel
Second digit: 0 – no alloying element (plain carbon steel)
Remaining two digit: 30 – 30 points of carbon (has 0.30% carbon, nominal
range is 0.28-0.34%)
AISI C 1045
Prefix: C – Basic Open-Hearth Carbon Steel
First digit: 1 – Carbon Steel
Second Digit: 0 – plain carbon steel
Remaining two digit: 45 – 45 points (has 0.45% carbon)