DISCUSSION

FERROUS ALLOYS
Specimen 1 (X17)
Specimen 1 (X17) which is containing 0.8% carbon steel, rolled bar was heated for 1
hour at 800
o
C. It then undergoes annealed process which is furnace cooled to room
temperature. Annealing is a term that often used to define heat treatment process that
produces some softening of the structure. True annealing involves heating the steel to
austenite and holding for some time to create stable structure. The structure is then
cooled very slowly to room temperature. This will produces a very soft structure, but
also creates very large grains, which are seldom desirable because of poor toughness.
When Specimen 1 (X17) undergoes annealing process, it will produced ferrite and
pearlite. The white areas are a solid solution known as ferrite. The dark areas are
actually a composite called pearlite.

This specimen containing 0.8% carbon steel, rolled bar, heated for 1 hour at 800
o
C,
then it undergoes furnace cooled or it call annealed process at room temperature. The
term annealing is applies normally to softening by changing the microstructure and is a
term used to describe the heating and cooling cycle of metals in the solid state. The
term annealing usually implies relatively slow cooling in carbon and alloy steels.
When this specimen undergoes furnace cooled process to room temperature, it
produced martensit and carbides based on what we found through optical microscope.
The darker on the microstructure is known as carbon.

Specimen 2 (X18)
Specimen 2 (X18) which is containing 0.8% carbon steel, rolled bar was heated for 1
hour at 800
o
C. It then undergoes normalized process which is cooled in still air.
Normalizing is as term of returning the structure back to normal. The steel is heated
until it just starts to form austenite, It is then cooled in air. This moderately rapid
transformation creates relatively fine grains with uniform pearlite.
When Specimen 2 (X18) undergoes normalizing, it will produced fine pearlite with
excess of ferrite or cementite. The resulting material is soft and the degree of softness
depends on the actual ambient conditions of cooling. Normalizing is more commonly
used than annealing, as it is considerably cheaper that full annealing since there is not
the added cost of controlled furnace cooling.



Specimen 3 (X19)
Specimen 3 (X19) which is containing 0.35% carbon steel bar. It then undergoes
spheroidizing which is furnace cooled from 870
o
C. According to the percentage of
carbon steel, specimen 3 can be classified as medium-carbon steel. When this type of
carbon steel undergoes spheroidizing, it will developed the spheroidite structure.
Spheroidited steels have a maximum softness and ductility and easily machined or
deformed. The carbon steels will produced ferrite, cementite and also bainite
microstructure.

Specimen 4 (X20)
Specimen 4 (X20) which is containing 1.3% carbon steel bar. It the undergoes
spheroidizing which is furnace cooled from 970%. According to the percentage of
carbon steel, specimen 3 can be classified as high-carbon steel. During cooling process
of this steel, from the austenite field, the first phase to form is cementite on the austenite
grain boundaries. This partitions iron and at the eutectic composition pearlite is formed
from the remaining enriched austenite.

NONFERROUS ALLOYS
Specimen 5 (X12)
Specimen 5 (X12) which is containing 58% Copper (Cu) or 42% Zinc (Zn). It then
reheated to 800
o
C for 1 hour. The specimen is then was furnace cooled to 600
o
C and
then undergoes water quenched. Hardenability means the influenced for alloy
composition on the ability of steel alloy to transform to martensite for particular
quenching treatment. After quenching, specimen 5 will form microstructure of martensite

Specimen 6 (X13)
Specimen 6 (X13) which is containing 58% Copper and 42% Zinc. It then reheated to
800
o
C for 1 hour. The specimen is then was cooled to room temperature. The specimen
undergoes hardenability just like specimen 5. The microstructure of the grains of this
specimen expands.

Specimen 7 (X14)
Specimen 7 (X14) which is containing Aluminium (Al) and 4% of Copper (Cu) alloy,
sand cast. It then heated at 525
o
for 16 hours. It is finally undergoes water quenched.
This specimen undergoes age-hardening process. Age hardening was used to
designate this precipitation hardening because the strength developed by time or as the
alloy ages.


Specimen 8 (X15)
Specimen 8 (X15) which is containing Aluminium (Al) and 4% Copper (Cu) alloy, sand
cast. It then heated at 525
o
C for 16 hours. It then undergoes water quenched. Finally,
the specimen was reheated at 260
o
C for 70 hours. Just like specimen 7, specimen 8
also undergoes age-hardening process.
HEAT TREATMENT
Annealing
Applies normally to softening by changing the microstructure and is a term used to
describe the heating and cooling cycle of metals in the solid state. The term annealing
usually implies relatively slow cooling in carbon and alloy steels. The more important
purposes for which steel is annealed are as follow:
1. To remove stresses
2. To induce softness
3. To alter ductility, toughness or electric, magnetic or other physical and mechanical
properties.
4. To change the crystalline structure
5. To produce definite microstructure

Normalizing
Normalizing is a heat treatment process for making material softer but does not produce
the uniform material properties of annealing. A material can be normalized by heating it
to a specific temperature and then letting the material cool to room temperature outside
of the oven. This treatment refines the grain size and improves the uniformity of
microstructure and properties of hot rolled steel. Normalizing is used in some plate mills,
in the production of large forgings such as railroad wheels and axles, some bar
products. This process is less expensive that annealing.

Spheroidizing
Spheroidizing is a process of heating and cooling to produce a spherodial or globular
form of carbide in steel.

Hardening
Hardening involves heating steel to its normalizing temperature and cooling (quenching)
rapidly in a suitable fluid.
ALLOYS
Ferrous Alloys
Iron alloys containing chromium, manganese, molybdenum, silicon, titanium, tungsten,
vanadium and other elements in varying proportions. Ferrous alloys are added to steel
during the manufacturing process to achieve the desired degree of corrosion resistance,
tensile strength, yield strength and other qualities.

Non Ferrous Alloys
Non ferrous alloys are alloys that are the byproducts of non ferrous metals such as
aluminium, cobalt, lead, magnesium, titanium and zinc. By definition, a non ferrous alloy
is an alloy that does not intentionally contain iron. In general, non ferrous alloys are
invested with non metallic properties, have higher melting point and better strength.
These properties make them a favoured choice for several commercial and non
commercial uses, including automobile and aircraft parts, communication equipment,
water valves, musical instruments and the manufacturing of flammables and explosive.

MICROSTRUCTURAL
Austenite
Austenite is a solid solution of ferritic carbide or carbon in iron. It cools to form pearlite
or martensite.

Ferrite
Ferrite is a solid solution of carbon in body-centered cubic iron. It is a constituent of
carbon steels.

Cementite
Cementite is iron carbide and an orthorhombic crystal structure. It is hard, brittle
material, essentially a ceramic in its pure form. It forms directly from the melt in the case
of white cast iron. In carbon steel, it either forms from austenite during cooling or from
martensite during tempering.

Pearlite
Pearlite is an iron alloy phase which is characterized by the formation of distinct bands
of ferrite and cementite. This iron alloy phase contains around 88% ferrite and 12%
cementite. It only forms under specialized conditions which must be controlled to create
this alloy phase rather than another one. Pearlite is known for being tough, thanks to the
way in which it forms, and may be used in a variety of applications.
Martensite
Martensite is a solid solution of carbon in alpha-iron that is formed when steel is cooled
so rapidly that the change from austenite to pearlite is suppressed; responsible for
hardness of quenched steel.

CONCLUSION

From the experiment that has been carried out, we are able to understand the
differences between ferrous and non ferrous alloys from the metallurgical point of view.
There are differences in the microstructure of the materials. We are also able to
understand the phase diagram of iron-carbon and non ferrous systems that enables for
heat treating and procedures in heat treatment involved. Besides that, we are also able
to describe the principle engineering properties and industrial application of ferrous and
non ferrous alloys.