METALLURGY

The Blacksmith

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Geometry of Crystal Systems

There are 14 space lattices

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Crystals and The Crystal Lattice
•The crystal lattice is a three-dimensional structure composed of atoms held together by
chemical bonds.
•Model of the crystal lattice of the mineral halite. Atoms in minerals do not occur as
discrete individual molecules but are part of structures (lattices) held together by chemical
bonds.

The crystal of NaCl (table salt)

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 Simple Cubic Crystal Lattice

Perfect (simple cubic) crystal lattice of atoms Crystal lattice showing atom planes

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 Simple Cubic Unit Cell
• The simple cubic lattice consists of the lattice points
identified by the corners of closely packed cubes.

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Body Centered Cubic Unit Cell - BCC
• The body centered lattice equals the simple cubic
lattice with the addition of a lattice point in the center
of each cube.

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 Face Centered Cubic Cell - FCC
• The face centered lattice equals the simple cubic
lattice with the addition of a lattice point in the center
of each of the six faces of each cube.

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 Diamond Lattice
• The diamond lattice consists of a face centered cubic Bravais (Bravais Auguste 1811-1863)
point lattice which contains two identical atoms per lattice point.
• The distance between the two atoms equals one quarter of the body diagonal of the cube.
• The diamond lattice represents the crystal structure of diamond, germanium and silicon.

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 Crystals

•When molten steel begins to cool, the

lattice structures begin to attach to one
another and form crystal skeletons called
dendrites, which resemble the look of a
pine tree.
•Dendrites start to form everywhere, and
each one continues to grow
independently.
•This is the beginning of the Dendrites
transformation to a solid state.

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 Grains

•Dendrites grow to a point where they

begin to bump into one another, and
eventually, they can not grow any
larger because of being restricted by
other dendrites around them.
•At that point, the dendrite has reached
its maximum size and is referred to as a
grain.
•The space that exits between grains,
usually just a few atoms wide, is
referred to as a grain boundary.
Grain boundaries • Grain size greatly affects the
toughness of steel.
•The smaller the grain size, the more
ductile the steel.

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 Cooling Rate

• If molten steel is cooled slowly,

dendrites have a longer time to
grow before they begin to bump
into neighboring dendrites. Thus, a
large grain size is formed.
• When steel is cooled quickly, the
number of dendrites that begin
growing increases, and the
dendrites form quickly and begin
to be restricted by other dendrites.
Smaller grain size is the result.

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 Metastable Fe-C Phase Diagram
• There are several temperatures or
critical points in the diagram, which
are important, both from the basic
and from the practical point of view.
• A1, temperature at which the
eutectoid reaction occurs (P-S-K),
which is 723°C in the binary
diagram.
• A3, temperature when α-iron
transforms to γ-iron. For pure iron
this occurs at 910°C, but the
transformation temperature is
progressively lowered along the line
GS by the addition of carbon.
• A4 at which γ-iron transforms to δ-
iron, 1390°C in pure iron, hut this is
raised as carbon is added. The A2,
point is the Curie point when iron
changes from the ferro- to the
paramagnetic condition. This
temperature is 769°C for pure iron,
but no change in crystal structure is
involved.
• The A1, A3 and A4 points are easily
detected by thermal analysis or
dilatometry during cooling or
heating cycles, and some hysteresis
is observed.

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 The Eutectoid Reaction

The eutectoid reaction is:

Solid γ –> solid α + solid β
or
Austenite –> ferrite + cementite
(Fe3C)

•The eutectoid reaction describes the phase transformation of one solid into two different solids.
•In the Fe-C system, there is a eutectoid point at approximately 0.8wt% C, 723°C.
•The phase just above the eutectoid temperature for plain carbon steels is known as austenite or gamma.
•We now consider what happens as this phase is cooled through the eutectoid temperature (723°C).

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 The Hypo-eutectoid
Microstructure

• A3 — The lower-
temperature boundary
of the austenite region
at low carbon contents;
i.e., the gamma /
gamma + Fe3C
boundary.

Some commercial steels have a eutectoid composition - steel for railway track is an example of a "pearlitic steel".
Most steels are "hypo-eutectoid", containing less than 0.8 wt% C. Mild steels contain 0.1-0.2 wt% C, medium
carbon steels around 0.4 wt% C. Here we will look at how the equilibrium structures relate to the phase diagram.

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Equilibrium Fe-C Phase Diagram
•Austenite:   This phase is only possible in carbon
steel at high temperature.  It has a Face Centre Cubic
(F.C.C) atomic structure which can contain up to 2%
carbon in solution.
•Ferrite:  This phase has a Body Centre Cubic
structure (B.C.C) which can hold very little carbon;
typically 0.0001% at room temperature.  It can exist
as either: alpha or delta ferrite. 
•Carbon:  A very small interstitial atom that tends to
fit into clusters of iron atoms.  It strengthens steel
and gives it the ability to harden by heat treatment. 
It also causes major problems for welding ,
particularly if it exceeds 0.25% as it creates a hard
microstructure that is susceptible to hydrogen
cracking.  Carbon forms compounds with other
elements called carbides.  Iron Carbide, Chrome
Carbide etc.
•Cementite:  Unlike ferrite and austenite, cementite is
a very hard intermetallic compound consisting of
6.7% carbon and the remainder iron, its chemical
symbol is Fe3C.  Cementite is very hard, but when
mixed with soft ferrite layers its average hardness is
reduced considerably. Slow cooling gives course
perlite; soft easy to machine but poor toughness. 
Faster cooling gives very fine layers of ferrite and
cementite; harder and tougher.

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Metallurgy Image

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Metallurgy Image

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Chilled Cast Iron

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Chilled Cast Iron

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Nodules

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Nodularity Image

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Gray Iron

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Metal Corrosion

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More Metal Corrosion

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