Part #2 - Sec I

Steels

Feb 2022
Outline:

» Alloys – Introduction

» Types of alloys

» Ferrous alloys – Steels

» Non-ferrous metals and alloys

 1. Alloys - Introduction
Alloys:

» homogeneous combination of 2 or more elements, at least one of which

is a metal.

» have metallic properties.

» Alloying is performed with the need to improve some properties of the

base metal like:

√ Density, reactivity, electrical and thermal conductivity is often the

same as a constituent metal,

2. Types of Metal Alloys

‡ Metal alloys, by virtue of composition, are often grouped into

two classes — ferrous and nonferrous.

‡ Ferrous alloys, those in which iron is the principal

constituent, include steels and cast irons. These alloys and

their characteristics are the topics of discussion of this section.

‡ The nonferrous ones — all the alloys that are not iron based.
 2.1. Ferrous alloys
‡ Ferrous alloys —those of which iron is the prime constituent — are produced in larger

quantities than any other metal type. They are especially important as engineering

construction materials. Their widespread use is accounted for by three factors:

1) iron-containing compounds exist in abundant quantities within the earth’s crust;

2) metallic iron and steel alloys may be produced using relatively economical extraction,

refining, alloying, and fabrication techniques; and

3) ferrous alloys are extremely versatile, in that they may be tailored to have a wide range

of mechanical and physical properties.

‡ The principal disadvantage of many ferrous alloys is their susceptibility to corrosion. This

section discusses compositions, microstructures, and properties of a number of different

classes of steels.
Cont’d…
 i. Steels:
» This is by far the most important engineering material and there is an enormous variety of steel to

meet the wide variety of engineering requirements. Steel is basically an alloy of iron and carbon in

which the carbon content can be less than 2.06% and carbon is present in the form of iron - carbide to

impart hardness and strength.

» Carbon has the greatest effect of any element when alloyed with iron. Increasing the carbon content

of low carbon steel will:

 increase tensile strength

 increase hardness

 increase hardenability

 decrease ductility

 decrease malleability
 Cont’d…

» Even small amounts of carbon will bring about significant improvements in

the mechanical properties of steel.

» Once the carbon content of steel exceeds 0.3%, the steel becomes

‘hardenable’, i.e it has the ability to be hardened by heat treatment.

» Heat treatment is an important process, and can be used to bring about

significant changes in the mechanical properties of steels. These HT processes

are: annealing, normalising, quenching & tempering.

» For example, a high carbon steel in the soft state may be cut with a hacksaw,

but following heat treatment it may be so hard that the only practical method of

cutting is by grinding.
» Elements in Steel: The composition of plain carbon steel is as follows. Cont’d…
» Iron (Fe)

» Carbon (C) : 0.05% - 2.06%

» Phosphorous (P): 0.05% max

» Silicon (Si) : 0.35% max

» Sulphur (S) : 0.06% max

» Manganese (Mn) : 0.8% max

» Apart from carbon, which is used to control the mechanical properties of steel, the other

elements present are either impurities or are added for such functions as de-oxidation or

grain refinement.

» Complete removal of phosphorous and sulphur during the manufacture of steel is

 Cont’d…

‡ Steels may be divided into two main groups.

» Plain carbon steels – where the element used to improve

mechanical properties is carbon.

» Alloy steels – where elements other than carbon are used to

improve mechanical properties.

 1. Plain carbon steel

» Plain carbon steels are divided into three groups, which are:

i. low carbon steel

ii. medium carbon steel

iii. high carbon steel.

a) Low carbon steel

» Low carbon steel is an iron/carbon alloy where the percentage of carbon is within the

range of 0.05% to 0.30%.

» Low carbon steel is non-hardenable by heat treatment, and therefore is essentially

unaffected by welding. This makes low carbon steel the ideal choice for general

fabrication purposes where high strength is not a prime requirement, but ease of
 Cont’d…
b) Medium carbon steel

 Medium carbon steel contains carbon in the range of 0.30%–0.60%.

 Medium carbon steels are hardenable, and exhibit improved

mechanical properties over low carbon steel.

c) High carbon steel

 High carbon steel contains carbon in the range of 0.60% –2.06%.

 High carbon steels are generally selected for use where hardness is

a prime requirement, and components made from this material are

usually heat treated during manufacture.

Cont’d…
 2. Alloy Steel
‡ These are steels in which elements other than carbon are added in sufficient quantities to

impart desired properties, such as wear resistance, corrosion resistance, electric or magnetic

properties.

‡ Chief alloying elements added are usually:

» Nickel for strength and toughness,

» Chromium for hardness and strength,

» Tungsten for hardness at elevated temperature,

» Vanadium for tensile strength,

» Manganese for high strength in hot rolled and heat treated condition,

» Silicon for high elastic limit,

» Cobalt for hardness and

 Cont’d…

» These elements improve the properties of the alloying steel and make it used

with applications more than the carbon steel.

» So the most used elements with the alloy steel and with their amount as a

percentage of : 2 % Manganese (Mn), 0.5 % Chrome (Cr) or Nickel (Ni), 0.3

% Tungsten (W) or Cobalt, 0.1 % Molybdenum (Mo) or Vanadium, different

amount of Aluminum (Al), Copper (Cu) and Silicon (Si).

» Some examples of alloy steels are 35Ni1Cr60, 30Ni4Cr1, 40Cr1Mo28, 37Mn2.

» Stainless steel is one such alloy steel that gives good corrosion resistance. One

important type of stainless steel is often described as 18/8 steel where chromium
 Cont’d…

» Alloying elements are added to steels with four main aims:

a) to improve the hardenability of the steel;

b) to give solution strengthening and precipitation

hardening;

c) to give corrosion resistance;

d) to stabilise austenite, giving a steel that is austenitic at

room temperature.
 Cont’d…
‡ Alloys steels are generally classified into two major types depending on the

structural classification:

i. Low alloy steels:

» It is one that possesses similar microstructure to, and requires similar heat

treatment to, plain carbon steels.

» These generally contain up to 3 – 5 % of one or more alloying elements for

purpose of increasing strength, toughness and hardenability.

» The applications of low alloy steels are similar to those of plain carbon steels of

similar carbon contents. Low alloy steels containing nickel are particularly

suitable for applications requiring resistance to fatigue.

 Cont’d…
» The low alloy steel group is a particularly useful group of steels, as each has properties

that make it suited to particular applications.

» The low alloy steel types in common use are:

i. Carbon – manganese steels

ii. Weather resistant steels

iii. Quench and tempered steels

iv. Creep resisting steels.

» The properties of these low alloy steels are gained by the addition of alloying elements

other than carbon.

» The major advantage of these steels is that we can bring about improvements in

mechanical properties (such as hardness and tensile strength) without the

 Types of low alloy steels
i. Carbon-Manganese Steels:

» These steels contain carbon (usually 0.2% – 0.26%) and manganese in the range of 1

% to 1.8 %. Manganese in these quantities increases hardenability and tensile

strength.

» These steels are ‘high strength structural’ and ‘high strength low alloy’ steels.

» These are intended for use primarily in the fabrication of pressure vessels and boilers.

» These plates are silicon-aluminium killed (de-oxidised), and are supplied up to a

maximum thickness of 150 mm.

» Plates may be supplied as rolled, or in the heat-treated condition, and are supplied

with certificates of chemical analysis and mechanical testing.

 ii. Weather resistant steels

» It is a low alloy medium tensile steel of high yield strength, having

superior corrosion resistance under atmospheric conditions.

» Weathering steel is especially suitable in the transportation field and for

structural works where corrosion resistance and also a reduction in

mass is important.

» Corrosion resistance is approximately 4–6 times that of normal

structural steels, and their tensile strength is approximately 50 %

greater than that of low carbon steel.

Cont’d…
 iii. Quenched and tempered steels

» Quenched and tempered steels are high strength, low alloy steels supplied

in the quenched and tempered condition.

» The chemical composition usually includes numerous alloying elements

such as manganese, silicon, nickel, chromium, molybdenum, vanadium,

copper, titanium and boron.

» The manufacture of these steels normally involves water quenching from

900–950 °C, and tempering at 550–650°C for structural grades and 150–

550°C for wear resistant grades.

 Cont’d…

Quenched and tempered steels offer several advantages over structural carbon steels.

» High strength – The tensile strength of quenched and tempered steels is about three times greater than

that of structural carbon steel.

» Corrosion resistance – The atmospheric corrosion resistance of quenched and tempered steels is about

three times that of structural carbon steel.

» Toughness – Quenched and tempered steels are tougher, and in particular display good low temperature

notch toughness.

» Abrasion and impact resistance – Some grades of quenched and tempered steel are heat treated to give

high hardness with good abrasion and impact resistance.

» Economy – For structural fabrication purposes, thinner sections of quenched and tempered steels can

offer the same strength as much thicker structural carbon steel sections. Apart from design advantages

of lighter weight, thinner sections make handling easier, and welding and cutting faster.
 Applications

√ Quenched and tempered steels, because of their strength,

toughness and lighter weight (reduced thickness), are being widely

used for such fabrications as bridges, crane jibs, dump truck

bodies, gas and liquid tanks, and even the structural members

for large buildings.

√ When supplied in the higher hardness grades, quenched and

tempered steels are widely used in quarries, mines and ore

treatment plants on components such as excavator buckets, ore

 iv. Creep resisting steels
» Creep is the slow stretching (yielding) of a metal at elevated temperatures. This will

occur even though stresses are below the yield strength of the metal. The addition of

molybdenum as an alloying element imparts ‘creep resistance’ to steel to counteract this

tendency

» The chrome/moly group of steels resists creep, and is commonly used in process

applications such as refineries, steam generation and chemical plants.

» Chrome/moly steels have excellent mechanical properties. The high strength-to-weight

ratio of these steels makes them ideal for applications where a combination of high

strength and light weight are needed. Such applications are aircraft frames, race car

chasis and motorcycle frames.

» Pipes and tubing are by far the greatest form of this product. Processing plants,
Cont’d…
 Cont’d…

∞ Further to this, we get a combination of the desirable properties

that the addition of each of the alloying elements brings.

∞ For example – if we alloyed a steel with:

» Chromium – to improve hardness, tensile strength and

corrosion resistance

» Nickel – to improve toughness and promote a fine grain

structure

» Molybdenum – to impart creep resistance, its addition results

 ii. High alloy steels:

» Steels with the total alloy content is greater than 10%.

» Those steels that possess structures, and require heat treatments, that differ

considerably from those of plain carbon steels. A few examples of high alloy

steels are given below:

1. High-speed tool steels:

» Tungsten and chromium form very hard and stable carbides. Both elements

also raise the critical temperatures and, also, cause an increase in softening

temperatures.

» High carbon steels rich in these elements provide hard wearing metal-cutting
 Cont’d…

‡ This high-alloy content of martensite dose not soften appreciably when

it is heated at temperatures excess of 600˚C making them usable as

cutting tools at high cutting speeds.

2. Stainless Steels:

‡ When chromium is present in amounts in excess of 12%, the steel

becomes highly resistant to corrosion, owing to protective film of

chromium oxide that forms on the metal surface.

‡ Chromium also raises the α to γ transformation temperature of iron,

and tends to stabilize ferrite in the structure.

 Cont’d…

• There are several types of stainless steels, and these are summarized

below:

a) Ferritic stainless steels contain between 12 – 25 % of chromium and

less than 0.1 % of carbon.

b) Martensitic stainless steels contain between 12-18 % of chromium,

together with carbon contents ranging from 0.1 to 1.5 %.

c) Austenitic steels contain both chromium and nickel. When nickel is

present, the tendency of nickel to lower the critical temperatures

 3. Maraging steels

» These are very high-strength materials that can be hardened to

give tensile strengths up to 1900 MN/m2.

» They contain 18% of nickel, 7% of cobalt and small amounts of

other elements such as titanium, and the carbon content is low,

generally less than 0.05% .

» A major advantage of maraging steels is that after the solution

treatment they are soft enough to be worked and machined with

 Cont’d…

∞ Alloy elements can be classified depending on the using of the alloy (its

application) or according to the basic influence of the element on the alloy

steel properties as follow:

1) alloying elements tend to make carbides such as Cr, W, Ti, V and Mo - it is

used in the applications that needs to higher hardness.

2) alloying elements due to analyzing carbides such as Ni, Al, Co and Si.

3) alloying elements stabilizing austenite, γ, such as Ni, Co, Cu and Mn.

4) alloy elements stabilizing ferrite, such as Cr, W, V, Al and Si.

 2. Dual Phase (DP) Steels:
» The term dual phase steels, or DP steels, refers to a class of high strength steels which is

composed of two phases; normally a ferrite matrix and a dispersed second phase of

martensite and/or bainite.

» DP steels were developed in the 1970’s. The development was driven by the need for new

high strength steels without reducing the formability or increasing costs.

» In particular the automotive industry has demanded steel grades with high tensile

elongation to ensure formability, high tensile strength to establish fatigue and crash

resistance, low alloy content to ensure weldability without influencing production cost.

» For years later, the demand for DP steels is still strong. Materials that can combine high

strength and good formability and thus reduce the weight of vehicles and other products
 Cont’d…

» Traditional microstructures of DP steels consist of polygonal ferrite and martensite.

» To satisfy custom requirements, ferrite-bainite-martensite and ferrite-bainite steels were produced in

order to modify mechanical properties: bainite instead of martensite was shown to improve formability

with a little decrease of strength.

» The effect of martensite fraction, distribution and martensite region size, and the effect of ferrite

fraction and grain size on mechanical behaviour of DP steels have been intensively studied.

» With increasing the martensite fraction, the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength increase

while uniform and total elongations decrease.

» The distribution of martensite also affects the mechanical behaviour. Martensite regions existing as

isolated areas within ferrite matrix result in a better combination of strength and ductility than martensite

regions forming a chain-like network structure surrounding ferrite.

» Refinement of ferrite or/and martensite regions simultaneously enhances strength and ductility.
 Cont’d…
• Comparing DP steels with other high strength low alloy (HSLA) steels, DP steels

show superior properties, see Figure 1.

 Cont’d…

» Thanks to the combination of high

strength, good formability and low cost as

well as high deformation hardening, which

implies a high energy absorbing ability or

“crashworthiness”,

» DP steels are mainly used by the automotive

industry primarily for safety parts in car

bodies, e.g. bumpers, B-pillars, side

impact beams, etc., see Figure 2.

 Cont’d…

√ The most common way of producing DP steels is by cold rolling of

low alloy (LA) steels followed by intercritical annealing in a

continuous annealing line, here referred to as CAL.

√ The term intercritical refers to the two phase field of austenite/ferrite

in the Fe-C diagram.

√ The austenite phase will transform to martensite when quenching,

provided the proper hardenability of the steel and a sufficient cooling

rate.

√ The result is a structure with a soft continuous phase of ferrite with

Cont’d….
Processing of Steels:

» Iron is easily found in the earth's crust, but pure iron is not a very useful

material because it rusts easily. It also has such a high melting point

that it cannot easily be shaped by casting.

» Through a fortunate coincidence carbon, the element used to reduce iron

ore, forms a very useful alloy with iron: steel. Carbon atoms are small

enough to fit into the interstices of an iron lattice.

» The successful processing of iron ore requires precise control of the

proportions of carbon, iron and oxygen in the final product.

 Cont’d…

» In early Iron Age Europe, the furnaces were not hot enough to melt

iron.

» When iron ore was heated with charcoal, removing the oxygen, the

iron changed to a spongy solid called a bloom which still contained

slag.

» A blacksmith could hammer out the slag, producing a purer

material called wrought iron. Its final carbon content would be less

than 0.5%. This nearly pure iron is malleable and soft

 Cont’d…

® A blast furnace is hot enough that carbon from charcoal or coke

dissolves in molten iron. When cooled the product is cast iron, with

more than 2% carbon content.

® This material is brittle, not malleable, since the carbon atoms in the

lattice block slip planes. When force is applied a cast iron object will

crack rather than bending.

® Although Chinese metal workers used their superior furnaces and

bellows to produce cast iron objects about two thousand years ago, blast
 Cont’d…

® Casting is still used to make metal objects with fine details such as

engine parts.

® In sandcasting, a pattern of the final object is made and surrounded

with sand that has been mixed with a binder. The pattern is removed

leaving a hollow space.

® Wax patterns are common; they can be melted out of the mold.

Molten metal is poured into the sand mold, and allowed to cool and

harden.
 Cont’d…
» Neither cast iron nor wrought iron was an effective substitute for bronze, but

eventually metal workers in several parts of the world developed recipes for steel, an

iron alloy with an intermediate carbon content, about 1%. Steel is tough and

flexible, not brittle, yet hard enough to be sharpened.

» Some blacksmiths learned to steel one side of a wrought iron blade by leaving it in

contact with very hot charcoal for a certain length of time. This would be used to make

sharp cutting edges.

» Additional processing techniques were discovered to improve the properties of steel

objects. If “steeled” iron is cold hammered it gains additional strength.

» Quenching hot metal in cold water makes the metal harder and more brittle. If

quenched steel is reheated to about 700°C it loses some of the hardness but regains some
 Cont’d…

» A new method for forming metals, powder metallurgy, developed to meet

the needs of the automobile industry.

» Metal powders are mixed in the desired proportions, put into a die (a

precision mold), and pressed.

» The shaped material is ejected from the die and put into a furnace. To allow

metallic bonds to form within the sample, the object is sintered: heated at a

temperature just below its melting point.

» The atmosphere in the furnace is controlled to limit exposure to oxygen and

other chemicals that could contaminate the sample.

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