HEAT TREATMENT

DEFINITION
• Heat Treating is defined as the controlled heating
and cooling of metals for the primary purpose of
altering their properties (strength, ductility,
hardness, toughness, machinability, etc.)
• Can be done for STRENGTHENING PURPOSES
(converting structure to martensite)
• Can be done for SOFTENING AND CONDITIONING
PURPOSES(annealing, tempering, etc.)
 How to Strengthen Metals:
Metals can be hardened by preventing the
movement of dislocations through crystal
structure.
• Finer grain boundaries – can be done by
recrystallizing (and cold working)
• Increase dislocation density via COLD WORKING
(strain hardening)
• Add alloying elements to give –SOLID SOLUTION
HARDENING.
• Add alloying elements to give precipitates or
dispersed particles – PRECIPITATION HARDENING
(aka Heat Treat)
• DISPERSION HARDENING– fine particles (carbon)
impede dislocation movement.
 An Overview Of Important Heat
Treatments
HEAT TREATMENT

BULK SURFACE

ANNEALING NORMALIZING HARDENING

THERMAL THERMO-
CHEMICAL

Full Annealing Carburizing

TEMPERING Flame
Recrystallization Annealing Induction Nitriding

Stress Relief Annealing SPHEROIDIZING LASER Carbo-nitriding

Spheroidization Annealing Electron Beam

 ANNEALING
It is a softening process whose primary purpose is to
soften the steel and prepare it for additional
processing such as cold forming or machining. Other
purposes of annealing are-
1. Reduce hardness
2. Remove residual stress (stress relief)
3. Improve toughness
4. Restore ductility
5. Refine grain size
6. Improve magnetic and electrical properties
TYPES OF ANNEALING

• Full Annealing
• Process Annealing
• Isothermal Annealing
• Recrystallization Annealing
• Low Temperature Annealing
• Full Annealing-
The purpose of this heat treatment is to obtain a material with
high ductility. A microstructure with coarse pearlite (i.e.
pearlite having high interlamellar spacing) is endowed with
such properties.
The range of temperatures used is given in the figure
The steel is heated above A3 (for hypo-eutectoid steels) & A1
(for hyper-eutectoid steels) → (hold) → then the steel is
furnace cooled to obtain Coarse Pearlite.
Coarse Pearlite has low (↓) Hardness but high (↑) Ductility.
For hyper-eutectoid steels the heating is not done above Acm to
avoid a continuous network of proeutectoid cementite along
prior Austenite grain boundaries (presence of cementite along
grain boundaries provides easy path for crack propagation).
910C Acm

A3

723C Full Annealing

A1


T

Wt% C
0.8 %
• Process Annealing-
Low carbon steels
may harden through
cold working. They
can be heated to
around 100 degrees
below lower critical
temp., soaked and
allowed to cool in air.
It improves ductility
of the material. It is
also called partial
annealing.
Isothermal Annealing-
In this the steel is heated up to critical temperature and
then it is rapidly cooled to a temperature of 373-473K.
The steel is held at this temperature for a long period of
time so that gamma iron is fully decomposed. Then it is
cooled in air.
Advantages of this process are-
1. Annealing time is reduced.
2.More homogeneous structure is obtained due to
constant temperature.
3. Machinability is improved.
• Recrystallization Annealing-
During any cold working operation (say cold rolling),
the material becomes harder (due to work hardening),
but loses its ductility. This implies that to continue
deformation the material needs to be recrystallized
(wherein strain free grains replace the ‘cold worked
grains’).Hence, recrystallization annealing is used as
an intermediate step in (cold) deformation processing.
To achieve this the sample is heated below A1 and
held there for sufficient time for recrystallization to
be completed.
910C Acm

A3

723C
Recrystallization Annealing A1


T

Wt% C
0.8 %
• Low Temperature Annealing-
Due to various processes like quenching (differential
cooling of surface and interior), machining, phase
transformations (like martensitic transformation),
welding, etc. the residual stresses develop in the
sample. Residual stress can lead to undesirable
effects like warpage of the component.
The annealing is carried out just below A1 , wherein
‘recovery*’ processes are active
910C

723C
Stress Relief Annealing A1


T

Wt% C
0.8 %
 Normalizing
 The sample is heat above A3 | Acm to complete Austenization. The
sample is then air cooled to obtain Fine pearlite. Fine pearlite has a
reasonably good hardness and ductility.
 In hypo-eutectoid steels normalizing is done 50C above the
annealing temperature.
 In hyper-eutectoid steels normalizing done above Acm → due to faster
cooling cementite does not form a continuous film along GB.
 The list of uses of normalizing are listed below-
1.Refine grain structure prior to hardening
2.To harden the steel slightly
3. To reduce segregation in casting or forgings.
910C Acm

A3

723C
A1


T

Wt% C
0.8 %
Advantages Of Normalising Process-

1. It produces stronger material than fully

annealed material.
2. It refines the grains.
3. It produces homogenized structure.
4. Better surface finish is obtained in
machining.
5. Strength and hardness are increased.
6. Crack propagation is checked
 Spheroidizing
It is a heat treatment process where the
cementite of pearlite coalesces into very small
particles as globules or spheroids. It is principally
used for high carbon steels which are more
difficult to form.
Purposes of Spheroidizing are-
• Good machinability
• High ductility
• Improvement in formability.
910C Acm

A3

723C
Spheroidization A1


T

Wt% C
0.8 %
 Methods of Spheroidizing
1. Prolonged heating at a temperature below
the A1 followed by relatively slow cooling.
2. Prolonged cycling between temperatures
slightly Above and below A1
3. In case of tool or high alloy steels, heating
1023-1073K or higher and holding at this
temperature for several hours, followed by
slow cooling.
 Ranges of temperature where Annealing, Normalizing and Spheroidization treatment are
carried out for hypo- and hyper-eutectoid steels.
 Details are in the coming slides.

Ful
l An
nea
ling n
910 C

a tio Acm
No li z
rm aliz m a
r
A3 atio
n No

723C Full Annealing

A1

Spheroidization Stress Relief Annealing


T Recrystallization Annealing

Wt% C
0.8 %
 Hardening
A process in which steel is heated to a
temperature above the critical point, held at this
temperature and quenched (rapid cooled) in
water, oil and molten salt baths. Medium and
High carbon steels (0.4 – 1.2%) can be heated
until red hot and then quenched in water
producing a very hard and brittle metal. At 723
degrees, the BCC ferrite changes into Austenite
with a FCC structure.
 Hardening Process
The sample is heated above A3 | Acm to cause Austenization.
The sample is then quenched at a cooling rate higher than the
critical cooling rate (i.e. to avoid the nose of the CCT diagram).
The quenching process produces residual strains (thermal,
phase transformation).
The transformation to Martensite is usually not complete and
the sample will have some retained Austenite.
The Martensite produced is hard and brittle and tempering
operation usually follows hardening. This gives a good
combination of strength and toughness.
910C Acm

A3

723C Full Annealing

A1


T

Wt% C
0.8 %
 Quenching Media

• Brine (water and salt solution)

• Water
• Oil
• Air
• Turn off furnace
 Hardening Methods

• Martempering- In martempering the steel is

then quenched and the entire sample
transforms simultaneously to martensite. This
is followed by tempering.
• Austempering-In austempering instead of
quenching the sample, it is held at T1 for it to
transform to lower bainite.
 Tempering
The process of heating quenched, hardened
steel, steel in martensitic condition to some
predetermined temperature between room
temperature and the critical temperature of
the steel for a certain length of time followed
by air cooling is called tempering.
 WHY TEMPERING?

1)To relieve residual stress.

2)Improving ductility.
3)Toughness is increased.
4)Decreasing hardness.
5)Stabilized structure.
 Case Hardening
• Case hardening is a process of heating a steel in
the presence of solid, liquid or gas, rich in carbon
in order to enable the surface to be hardened
while retaining the tough ductile core. Low
carbon steels cannot be hardened by heating due
to the small amounts of carbon present.
• Case hardening seeks to give a hard outer skin
over a softer core on the metal.
• The addition of carbon to the outer skin is known
as carburising
 Types of Case Hardening
• Chemical heat treatment of steel –
There is change in chemical composition.
a)Carburising
b)Nitriding
c)Cyaniding
• Surface hardening of steel
a)Flame hardening
b)Induction hardening
 CARBURISING
• Applied to low carbon steels. The carbon
content is increased. Carburizing is followed
by hardening and low self tempering.
• Low carbon steel is heated up to 8700C in
the atmosphere. The reaction takes place.
Fe + 2CO-> FeC + CO2
 Types of Carburising
1)Pack Carburising-
• Part surrounded by charcoal treated with
activating chemical – then heated to austenite
temperature.
• Charcoal forms CO2 gas which reacts with excess
carbon in charcoal to form CO.
• CO reacts with low-carbon steel surface to form
atomic carbon
• The atomic carbon diffuses into the surface
• Must then be quenched to get hardness!
2)Salt bath carburising-
A molten salt bath (sodium cyanide, sodium
carbonate and sodium chloride) has the object
immersed at 900 degrees for an hour giving a
thin carbon case when quenched.

3)Gas carburising-
The object is placed in a sealed furnace with
carbon monoxide allowing for fine control of
the process.
 Nitriding
• The nitrogen content of the surface is
increased. This is done by heating the steel in
the atmosphere of NH3 gas.
NH3-> 2N +3H2
• This atomic nitrogen diffuses into steel
surface, and react with alloys of steels, making
a thin case containing the alloy nitrides and is
done to make the hardness maximum.
 Cyaniding
• Work is immersed in molten salt containing
sodium cyanide, which is heated to 760-8700C.
This is followed by water quenching.
 2NaCN + O2-> 2NaCNO
 2NaCNO + O2-> Na2CO3 +CO+2N
 2CO-> CO2 + C
• The atomic nitrogen and carbon diffuse to steel.
The case obtained is of high wear resistance
and increased endurance limit than nitriding.
 Induction Hardening
• Induced eddy
currents heat the
surface of the steel
very quickly and is
quickly followed by
jets of water to
quench the
component.
• A hard outer layer is
created with a soft
core. The slideways
on a lathe are
induction hardened.
 Flame Hardening
• Gas flames raise the
temperature of the
outer surface above
the upper critical
temp. The core will
heat by conduction.
• Water jets quench
the component.
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