Heat Treatment of Steel

Assessment Performance Criteria

The student will be able to:

1. use the Fe-Fe3C phase diagram to design steel microstructures based on

composition and equilibrium annealing treatments;

2. use a TTT diagram to design cooling treatments to achieve particular steel

structures and properties;

3. describe at least two examples of engineering applications where martensitic

microstructures are preferred to ferritic ones.

Background

Callister
Sections 9.13 - 9.15
Sections 10-5 - 10.9
Section 11.5

Steels are among our most important engineering materials. Without them,
the machinery and tools required to establish any industrial activity would be difficult to
imagine. A very important property of steel is the ability to alter its hardness by simple
heat treatments. The hardened steel is capable of cutting and shaping other softer
materials such as other steels, nonferrous materials, plastics, wood, stone, etc.

Hardening treatment critically depends on the rate at which the steel is cooled
from high austenitizing temperatures. The Time-Temperature-Transformation curve
was developed as a convenient way to describe the resultant structure and phase
make up of the treated steel as a function of both temperature and time. An
equilibrium phase diagram only gives information on the phase or phases
thermodynamically stable at a particular T, P, composition, etc. In many practical
situations, however, true equilibrium conditions are not achieved, because a
particular processing method does not allow sufficient time at an elevated
temperature for a system to achieve equilibrium. Instead, the system is kinetically
trapped in some metastable or non-equilibrium state.

The Fe-Fe3C Phase Diagram

The Fe-Fe3C phase diagram is given below. This comes from Callister. You
should be able to use this diagram to perform analyses such as that described by
example problem 9.4 in Callister.
Isothermal Transformation (TTT) Diagrams for Steels

The isothermal transformation diagram characteristic of a 1080 plain-carbon

steel is given below together with end-quench hardenability data (see figure 11.2 in
Callister).
Procedure

1. The Following Previously Heat Treated Steels Will be Supplied by the TA

Set A: Austenitized at 899°C for 1/2 hour, quenched in lead at 677°C, held there
for the stated time (see chart below) and water quenched to room temperature.

Time %
Specimen (sec.) Pearlite
1 10
2 100
3 240
4 360
5 540
6 1,000
7 10,000
8 100,000

Set B: Austenitized as above but quenched in Pb at 649°C for the times shown below.

Specimen Time % Pearlite Specimen Time % Pearlite

(sec.) (sec.)
1 5 4 20
2 10 5 30
3 15 6 60

Set C: Austenitized at 900°C for 1 hour, quenched to Tm, held for 30 seconds, re-
heated to 315°C for 40 seconds and finally quenched to room temperature.

Specime Quench Hardness % Temp.

n Temp. RC Martensite
Tm (°C)
1 218 61
2 204 58
3 177 57
4 163 ----
5 149 54
6 121 52
7 93 48
2. Metallography

2.1 The samples require a final polishing. The teaching assistant will assist.

2.2 After polishing, the samples are etched with 1% Nital (nitric Acid + Alcohol)
to reveal the different phases in the optical microscope.

3. Estimation of Percentage of Nonequilibrium Phases

3.1 Using an optical microscope, estimate the percentage of high temperature

transformation product (pearlite) for the sample sets A and B, both of which are
composed of SAE 1080 steels subjected to the corresponding heat treatment and
quenching procedures stated in Step 1.

3.2 Specimens from set C were heat treated to reveal the temperature at which
martensite first begins to form (Ms). The specimens show a tempered and regular
martensite mixture which can be observed as dark and light regions in the
microscope. The former is produced from austenite if Tm<Ms. The 315°C treatment
tempers martensite but does not affect any metastable austenite which may be
present. If Tm > Ms, only untempered light etching martensite will form. Using the
optical microscope, estimate the percent of tempered martensite in each sample.

4. Sketch the Microstructures

Make one sketch from each sample set. Note the different amounts of each phase.

5. The Following Armco Iron Samples Will be Provided by the TA

Sample History or Treatment Brinell

# Hardness
1 Hot rolled and annealed at 954°C for 2 hr. 81
2 Cold rolled (60% red), heat treated like #1 167
3 Rolled like #2, annealed for 1 hr. at 510°C 137
4 Rolled like #2, annealed for 10 hr. at 510°C 110
5 Rolled like #2, annealed for 100 hr. at 99
510°C
6 Rolled like #2, annealed for 1 hr. at 677°C 103
7 Rolled like #2, annealed for 1 hr. at 899°C 97

6. Follow the Sample Preparation as Described in Step 2 for Each Iron Sample

7. Sketch the Microstructure of Each Sample

Items for Lab Notes:

1. By examining the Armco samples 3 through 7, how would you rate the relative
effectiveness of time and temperature in producing the observed changes?

2. Does your visual estimations of the percentages of non-equilibrium phases for

each 1080 steel sample correlate with that predicted by the TTT curve?

3. Problem 11.D1 in Callister. Justify your answer.

4. Describe two examples of engineering applications where martensitic alloy

microstructures are preferred to ferritic alloys of the same composition. Justify your
answer.