Professional Documents
Culture Documents
MATERIALS SCIENCE
CHAPTER 3
THERMAL PROCESSING OF METALS
Lath type
Plate type
Martensite (Cont..)
• Transfer to martensite is diffusionless.
• No change of relative position of carbon atoms after
transformation.
The thickness
of the ferrite
and
cementite
layers in
pearlite
is ~ 8:1.
The absolute layer thickness depends on the
temperature of the transformation. The higher
the temperature, the thicker the layers.
Phase Transformations in Metals
Time –temp. path – microstructure
Example:
• Given in TTT
diagram, describe
what transformations
happen in:
a. Path 1 (Red line)
b. Path 2 (Green line)
c. Path 3 (Blue line)
d. Path 4 (Orange line)
Material Recrystallization
Temperature (oF)
Copper ( 99.99 %) 250
Copper ( 5 % Zinc) 600
Aluminum (99.99 %) 175
Aluminum alloys 600
Low carbon steel 1000
Zinc 50
Tin 25
Lead 25
Grain Growth
• In this stage the tensile strength and
hardness continue to decrease but at
a much less rate than the
recrystallization stage. The major
change observed during this stage is
the growth of the grain boundaries
and reaching the original grain size
as shown in figure below.
Effect of
annealing on
tensile
strength,
hardness,
ductility and
grain size.
Normalizing
• Normalizing 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
(austenite region) and then removed from the
furnace for air cooling.
• Makes grain structure uniform, Increases
strength.
• The purpose of normalizing is to remove the
internal stresses induced by heat treating,
welding, casting, forging, forming, or machining.
• Normalized steels are harder and stronger than
annealed steels. In the normalized condition, steel
is much tougher than in any other
structural condition.
Hardening
• The hardening treatment for most
steels consists of heating the steel to a
set temperature and then cooling it
rapidly by plunging it into oil, water, or
brine. Most steels require rapid cooling
(quenching) for hardening but a few
can be air-cooled with the same results.
• Hardening increases the hardness and
strength of the steel, but makes it less
ductile. Generally, the harder the steel,
the more brittle it becomes. To remove
some of the brittleness, it should
temper the steel after hardening.
Tempering:
• Tempering is essential after most
hardening operations to restore some
toughness to the structure.
Martensite
• This is due
to diffusion
of carbon
atoms from
interstitial
sites to iron
carbide
precipitates
.
Hardenability
• Hardenability is used to describe the
ability of an alloy to be hardened by
the
formation of martensite induced by
quenching process.
1”
flat ground
specimen
(heated toγ 4”
phase field)
24°C water
Hardenability (cont..)
Figure (a) End-
quench test and
cooling rate. (b)
Hardenability curves
for five different
steels, as obtained
from the end-
quench test.
Small variations in
composition can
change the shape of
these curves. Each
curve is actually a
band, and its exact
determination is
important in the
heat treatment of
metals, for better
control of
Hardenability (cont…)
Why hardness changes with position?
• The cooling rate Hardness versus
varies with position. distance from
the
100 10 3 2 Cooling rate (°C/s)
quenched end.
Hardness, HRC
60 100
Hardness, HRC
4340 80 %M
50
40 4140
8640
10
5140
40
20
0 10 20 30 40 50
Distance from quenched end (mm)
Hardenability curves shown: Distance from quenched end.
The 4340 (1.85 Ni, 0.8 Cr & 0.25 Mo) alloy steel has
exceptionally high hardenability and can be quenched to a
hardness of RC=50 at 2” from the quenched end of a
Jominy Test bar; 4140 (1% Cr & 0.2% Mo); 8640 (0.55% Ni,
0.5%Cr & 0.2% Mo); 5140 (0.85% Cr); 1040 (unalloyed
QUENCHING MEDIUM &
GEOMETRY
• Effect of quenching medium:
Medium Severity of Quench Hardness
air small small
oil moderate moderate
water large large
• Effect of geometry:
When surface-to-volume ratio
increases:
--cooling rate increases
--hardness increases
Position Cooling rate Hardness
center small small
surface large large
Drawin
g
Forging
METAL DEFORMATION
PROCESS
Rollin
g Extrusio
n
End of the Chapter 3
Based on the given data below,
1. Name the heat treatment process for each sample.
2. Differentiate the microstructure and properties of each
steel after the heat treatment process.
B 860 50 Furnace