HEAT TREATMENT PROCESSES

INTRODUCTION
• Heat Treatment process is a series of operations involving the
Heating and Cooling of metals in the solid state.

• Its purpose is to change a mechanical property or combination

of mechanical properties so that the metal will be more useful
serviceable, and safe for definite purpose.

• By heat treating, a metal can be made harder, stronger, and

more resistant to impact.

• Heat treatment can also make a metal softer and more ductile.
 INTRODUCTION
• No one heat-treating operation can produce all these
characteristics.

• Some properties are often improved at the expense of others.

Quenching a metal, for example, may produce brittleness.
TYPES OF HEAT TREATMENT PROCESSES

Some of the most common Heat Treatment process

are:
1. Annealing
2. Normalizing
3. Quenching or hardening
4. Tempering
 ANNEALING PROCESS
• Annealing is the process for softening materials or to bring
about required changes in properties, such as machinability,
mechanical or electrical properties, or dimensional stability.

• The annealing process consists of heating the steel to or near

the austenising temperature, then letting the material slowly
cool to room temperature inside the furnace.
 STAGES OF ANNEALING PROCESS
1. Heating to austenising temperature according to the
materials composition and required hardness.

2. Holding at that temperature according to the thickness of

the part.

3. Very slow cooling (furnace cooling) to room temperature.

In industry annealing process is mostly used for iron and

steel.
PURPOSE OF ANNEALING PROCESS
1. To produce softness in a material.

2. To relive internal stresses.

3. To increase ductility and toughness.

Annealing process is employed where softening is required

like machining, forging ,hot drawing ,extrusion etc.
TYPES OF ANNEALING PROCESSES

1. Full Annealing

2. Process Annealing

3. Stress Relief Annealing

4. Spheriodise Annealing
 FULL ANNEALING PROCESS
• Heating the part to a temperature at or above the critical
point ,giving specific soaking time and then cooling slowly
in the furnace.

• EXAMPLE:
• In case of hypo-eutectoid steels, required temperature is 727
C to 910 C above A3 line to transfer microstructure to single
phase austinite and then cooled slowly up to room
temperature.
• Obtained mixture is Coarse Pearlite with Ferrite Matrix ,it
is quite soft and ductile
• Cooling rate of full annealing is 30-40 C/hr.
PROCESS ANNEALING
• Annealing process is most used to soften and enhance the
ductility of a previously strain hardened metal.

• Ductility is important in shaping and creating a more refined

piece of work through processes such as rolling, drawing
and forging etc.

Example:
Process annealing is specifically used for steel wires and sheets
products (low carbon steels) at A1 temperature line and
cooled slowly.
STRESS RELIEF ANNEALING PROCESS
• Stress relief annealing is performed below the critical
temperature Ac1.

• The purpose is to relief internal stresses in apart without

changing its microstructure and mechanical properties.

• The mechanism to relief stress is to heat low alloy steel to

450 to 650 C and then cool it down slowly.

• For tool steel heat it up to 600 or 750 C.

STRESS RELIEF ANNEALING PROCESS
• Quenching process causes huge amount of residual stresses.

• It can be minimized only by plastic deformation in the

microstructure.

• For this the yield strength of the material should be lowered

then the residual stresses.

• As much the yield strength is lowered the higher will be

plastic deformation and higher will be the possibility of
removing residual stress.
SPHERODISE ANNEALING PROCESS
• This process is applied to steel having Carbon percentage
greater than 0.5 %.

• It consist of heating the steel to temperature about A1

temperature line (727C).

• It this temperature ferrite will recrystallized and iron carbide

present in pearlite will form as spheroids or “ball up” . As a
result of change of carbides shape the strength and hardness
are reduced.

• It minimize coarse pearlite for easier machining process.

• It form spheroids of maximum softness and elongation to
improve machinability and formability.
 NORMALIZING PROCESS
• It is a type of heat treatment applicable to ferrous
metals only.

• It differs from annealing in that the metal is heated to a higher

temperature and then removed from the furnace for air
cooling.
 NORMALIZING MECHANISM
 Heat the part to A3/Acm for austenising.

 Incase of hypo eutectoid steel the temperature is 50C above the

critical line.

 Hold it for sufficient time according to the part thickness.

 Cooling it in open air.

PURPOSE OF NORMALIZING
PROCESS

To Improve Hardness Slightly

To Refine Grain Size

To Create Uniformity In Hardness After

Welding

The Microstructure Formed By Normalizing

Process Consist Of Ferrite And Pearlite.
This process is less
expensive than
annealing.
 Quenching or
Hardening
 It is done to increase the
strength and wear properties.
One of the pre-requisites for
hardening is sufficient
carbon and alloy content.

 QUENCHING
STAGES:
It involves the following
stages
1. Austenising (30-50C)
above A3 or A1
2. Holding it for some time
3. Rapid cooling in
quenching media
QUENCHING MICROSTRUCTURE
• Due to fast cooling austenite can not transform into ferrite or
pearlite but transformed into martensite.

• Martensite is supersaturated solid solution of carbon in alpha

iron.

• Martensite is harder and brittle.

• Other phase obtained after quenching is retained austenite

(which can not be transformed into martensite
 PURPOSE OF QUENCHING

1. To obtain high hardness

2. To obtain high strength

3. To obtain resistance to deformation

4. To obtain wear resistance

 TEMPERING PROCESS
One drawback of using this method by itself is that the
metal becomes brittle.
This treatment is therefore typically followed by a

TEMPERING PROCESS:

• It is process of heating martensitic steel at a

temperature below the eutectoid transformation
temperature 500C to 650C.

• This process make martensite soft and ductile.

 STAGES OF TEMPERING

It consist of the following stages

1. Heating hardened steel to a temperature below eutectoid

temperature.

2. Holding it at that temperature for a specific time to

reduce brittleness.

3. After holding period parts can be furnace cooled, air

cooled or water cooled.
 PURPOSE TEMPERING

1. To make the part less brittle.

2. To reduce martensite hardness to some extent.

3. To increase ductility and toughness.

4. To relieve internal stresses.

By tempering process martensite transforms to low

carbon martensite and then to ferrite and cementite,
result is reduction of brittleness.
 UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY PESHAWAR
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

DEMONSTRATION OF HEAT TREATMENT PROCESS ON MILD STEEL SPECIMEN

ME-207L ENGINEERING METALLURGY LAB

31
 OBJECTIVES OF EXPERIMENT

1. To define ‘Heat Treatment Process’ and state its purpose.

2. To list and discuss the Basic types of Heat Treatment process.

3. To provide an understanding of the procedure of heat treatment process that occurs

on a mild steel specimen.
4. To develop an understanding in order to interpret Iron Carbide Phase Diagram.

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 32

 ELECTRIC FURNACE
It is used for heat treatment of material for improving its material properties i.e. ductility, tensile strength,
toughness etc. It has refractory insulation and High temperature thermal processing units.

Control Panel of Electric Furnace (1400℃):

1. Temperature Range: (a) It is the numerical difference between the highest temperature and lowest
temperature between which the electric furnace can operate.

(b) It has a red needle and a black needle. The black needle shows the
temperature inside the furnace while red needle is used to select the desired
temperature up to which the experiment needs to be conducted. It must be noted
that when the black needle coincides with the red needle, the furnace is shut
down.

2. Ampere Meter: As the current in amperes is increased, the speed of heating inside the furnace
increases. Thus, the process of heat treatment is made rapid or swift.

3. Regulator: It has markings of 1, 2, 3 and 4 on it. It controls how many carbon rods are
ON/OFF inside the furnace. Regulator adjusted on mark 2 will mean that 4 rods
are ON. Greater the rods in working nature, greater the heat produced.

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 33

 ELECTRIC FURNACE
4. Fire Bricks: Mostly made up of ceramics, they are refractory materials that acts
like a barrier to the high temperature inside the furnace to escape outside.

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 34

 ELECTRIC FURNACE CONTROL UNIT
Light Indicator
ON/OFF

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 35

 WHY USE MILD STEEL SPECIMEN?
Low carbon steel or mild carbon steel is an iron – carbon alloy that
contains 0.15% - 0.45% wt. carbon but during our lab work in metallurgy
lab we will consider an average value of 0.25% wt. carbon.

It is used in heat treatment process for the following reasons:

1. It is easily available.
2. It is economical.
3. It has a lot of applications in daily life.
4. It can be forged into any desired shape.

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 36

 ANNEALING

 Based on carbon percentage we select an appropriate temperature; we

heat the specimen to required temperature and then giving it proper soaking
or settling time we switch off the furnace and cool the specimen within the
furnace.
 It has a very slow cooling operation. The cooling process is lengthy and very
much time consuming.
 Normally it takes a specimen 24 – 27 hours to cool down properly.
 Main purpose of annealing is to improve ductility with some strength.
Typically annealing is carried out to:

1. Increase Softness
2. Increase Ductility
3. Increase Toughness
4. Produce a specific microstructure

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 37

 NORMALIZING

 Based on carbon percentage we select an appropriate

temperature; we heat the specimen to required temperature and
then giving it proper soaking or settling time we switch off the
furnace. Take out the specimen and put it in open air (room
temperature).

 It has a fast cooling rate normally 5 hours. In normalizing we

increase strength with some ductility.

 Normalized specimen has small and refined grains.

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 38

 HARDENING AND TEMPERING

 Based on carbon percentage we select an appropriate temperature; we heat the

specimen to required temperature and then giving it proper soaking or settling
time we switch off the furnace and quench the specimen in oil or water.

 It is a very rapid cooling operation. It takes normally 2 to 3 minutes for specimen

to cool down properly.

 Hardening increases the hardness (desired) and brittleness (not desired)

properties of a specimen.

 Hardness is defined as the resistance to surface penetration while

brittleness is the total opposite. So, to decrease the brittle properties, we perform
TEMPERING process after hardness.
Tempering reduces brittleness with some strength. For tempering, we heat the
specimen again in the furnace and then put it in open air to cool (5 to 6 hours).

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 39

 QUENCHING MEDIUM AND GEOMETRY

Effect of Quenching Medium:

Effect of Geometry:
When surface to Volume ratio increases so does the cooling rate and hardness. Here we
define Hardness as the ability to form martensite.

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 40

 SOAKING TIME

 It may also be known as ‘Settling Time’.

 Soaking means to hold the metal at a given temperature for a given

time and cooling the metal to room temperature.

 Thumb Rule is used for round specimen. It states that if diameter of

𝟏
the specimen is inch, then settling or soaking time is 30 minutes.
𝟐

 For other specimen shapes, there are different formulae.

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 41

 STAGES OF HEAT TREATMENT PROCESS

Heat treatment of a specimen is accomplished in three major

stages:
Stage 1: Heating the metal slowly to ensure a uniform
temperature.

Stage 2: Soaking (holding) the metal at a given temperature for a

given time and cooling the metal to room temperature.

Stage 3: Cooling the metal to room temperature.

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 42

 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

The steps for heat treatment process are as under:

1. Find Carbon percentage. (Normally we use spectrometer to find
Carbon percentage –( 0.25% C)
2. Study iron – iron carbide diagram.
3. Temperature Selection:
Annealing A3 + 10℃
Normalizing A3 + 𝟓𝟎℃
4. Soaking or settling time.
5. Rate of cooling (Furnace, Air, Water/oil)

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 43

 References

Heat Treatment processes:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skQRLfU3plM
2. https://www.tec-science.com/category/material-science/heat-
treatment-steel/
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jQ4y0LK1kY&t=316shttps:
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG35D_euM-0
Microstructure of Steel
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG35D_euM-0

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 44