Heat Treatment of Steels
Heat Treatment of Steels
Heat Treatment of Steels
Temperature
a) Heating
b) Holding or Soaking
c) Cooling
b. Holding
c. Cooling
a. Heating
Time
We use heat treatments to change properties of metal, or as a method of controlling
formation of structures, or expansion/contractional forces during welding.
In heat treating metals and alloys there are many elements for the welding inspector to
check that may be of great importance, such as the rate of climb and any hold points in
the heating cycle. The holding or soaking time is generally calculated at 1hour for every
25mm of thickness, but this can vary. Heat treatments that are briefly covered in this
section are as follows:
1)
Annealing
2)
Normalising
3)
Hardening
4)
Tempering
5)
Stress relieving
6)
Pre-heating
The methods/sources that may be used to apply heat to a fabrication may include:
a)
b)
c)
The tools that an inspector may use to measure the temperatures of furnaces and heated
materials may include.
a)
b)
c)
d)
The welding inspector should observe that all heat treatments are carried out as specified
and make records of all parameters. This is a critical part of the duties of a welding
inspector who should also ensure that all documents are retained within the quality files.
Welding Inspection of Steels WIS 5
Section 18 Heat Treatment of Steels
Rev 30-03-07 Copyright 2007 TWI Middle East
18. 1
1)
Annealing
Full Annealing
UCT
Very slow cooling
LCT
Sub Critical Annealing
a)
b)
In full annealing of steels the steel is heated above its UCT (upper critical temperature)
and allowed to cool very slowly in a furnace. This slow cooling will result in a degree of
grain growth, which produces a soft and ductile structure. There are no temperatures that
can be quoted for annealing steels, as this will depend entirely upon the carbon content of
the steel.
The UCT range of Plain Carbon Steels ranges between 910 723 C, however the
temperature is mostly taken to 50 C above the calculated UCT to allow for any
inaccuracies in the temperature measuring device. Plain carbon steel of carbon content of
0.2% would have an annealing temperature in the region of 850 - 950 C
The solution annealing of some metallic alloys may require a rapid cooling rate.
In sub critical annealing the steel is heated to temperatures well below the lower critical
temperature (723 C). This type of annealing is similar to that used with non-ferrous
metals as it is only the deformed ferritic grains that can be re-crystallised at these lower
temperatures.
The term annealing generally means to bring a metal, or alloy, to its softest and most
ductile natural condition. In steels this also means a reduction in toughness, as the
resultant large grain structure shows very low impact strength.
Welding Inspection of Steels WIS 5
Section 18 Heat Treatment of Steels
Rev 30-03-07 Copyright 2007 TWI Middle East
18. 2
2)
Normalising
UCT
Cooling in still air
Normalising is a heat treatment process that is generally used for steels. The temperature
climb and holding may be exactly the same as for annealing, however the steel is
removed from the furnace after the soaking period to be allowed to cool in still air.
This produces a much finer grain structure than annealing and although the softness and
ductility is reduced, the strength and hardness is increased. Far more importantly the
toughness, or impact strength is vastly improved.
3)
Hardening
UCT
Rapid cooling
In the thermal hardening of steels the alloy must be taken above its UCT as with all the
heat treatment processes discussed thus far, and soaked for the same period. The major
difference is in the cooling cycle where cooling is generally rapid.
For plain carbon steel, the steel must have a sufficiently high carbon content to be
hardened by thermal treatment, which is generally considered as > 0.3% carbon. Alloy
steels containing carbon contents below 0.1% with added Mn. Cr. Mo. or Ni. Etc. can be
made much harder by thermal heat treatment.
Some steels are specially designed to produce hardness even at very slow rates of
cooling, and are included in a group of steels called Air Hardening Steels.
The cooling media for quenching steels is very important; as if the steel is cooled too
quickly then the thermal shock may be too rapid and cause cracking to occur in the steel.
Brine is considered to be the fasted cooling media followed by water and then oil.
Welding Inspection of Steels WIS 5
Section 18 Heat Treatment of Steels
Rev 30-03-07 Copyright 2007 TWI Middle East
18. 3
4) Tempering
LCT
300C
280C
260C
240C
220C
220C
Tempering is a sub critical heat treatment process that can only be used after thermal
hardening has first been carried out, as the process of thermal hardening will leave some
steels with a much higher level of relative hardness, but also in a very brittle condition.
Low
Softness
Toughness
High
Hardness
Brittleness
Equal
Softness
Toughness
Low
Hardness
Brittleness
High
Softness
Toughness
18. 4
The softness, and far more importantly the toughness, is of very low values after thermal
hardening, and the term temper really means to balance. When tempering steel we rebalance the properties of excessive hardness and brittleness by decreasing the hardness
and increasing the level of toughness.
The process of tempering the hardness commences measurably at around 220C and
continues up to the LCT, or 723C. At this point most of the extra hardness produced by
thermal hardening has been removed, or fully tempered, but the fine grain structure
produced by the hardening process will remain, giving the steel good toughness and
strength. This is the mechanism used to give good toughness, and strength to Q/T steels,
which are normally tempered from between 550 650 C.
5)
The purpose of stress relieving is to relieve internal elastic stress that has become trapped
inside the weld during welding. The procedure of heat, hold and cool is the same as all
other heat treatments however special heating curves are required when stress relieving
some types of steels, particularly Creep Resistant Steels.
During stress relieving, steels may be heated from between 200-950 C, although most
stress relieving is carried out on steels between the temperatures of 550 700 C,
depending on steel type and amount of stress to be relieved. To understand what happens
during stress relieving there are a number of terms that require to be defined:
Failure point
Load
Elastic Strain
Plastic Strain
Extension
When steel is heated the yield point is suppressed, which means that the elastic strain
shown above will now start to become plastic strain.
Welding Inspection of Steels WIS 5
Section 18 Heat Treatment of Steels
Rev 30-03-07 Copyright 2007 TWI Middle East
18. 5
The higher the temperature, then generally the more elastic strain will be converted to
plastic strain, or plastic movement. It is generally accepted that up to 90% of residual
welding stresses can be plastically relieved during this process. This change is shown
diagrammatically below:
Elastic strain
Failure point
Load
Plastic Strain
Extension
When the temperature is returned to ambient temperatures, the yield point returns to
practically the same position as at the start of the heat treatment.
6)
Pre-heating
Preheating may be used when welding steels primarily for one of the following:
1)
2)
3)
Summary:
Heat treatments may be used to change/control the properties within welded joints and
fabrications. All heat treatments are cycles of 3 elements, heating, holding and cooling.
The welding inspector should carefully monitor the heat treatment procedure, its
method of application, and measuring system. All documents and graphs relating to
heat treatments should be submitted to the Senior Inspector in the Q/C department
to be logged in the fabrication quality document files.
Welding Inspection of Steels WIS 5
Section 18 Heat Treatment of Steels
Rev 30-03-07 Copyright 2007 TWI Middle East
18. 6
Method
Uses
Used to make steels soft
and ductile.
Stress
Relieving
18. 7
Briefly define a heat treatment using a diagram to indicate the basic stages?
Temperature
UCT
Time
2)
burners/heaters
2.
3.
3)
2.
3.
4.
5.
18. 8
Uses
..
..
..
Stress
Relieving
LCT
.
.
.
18. 9
.
.
.
.
..
..
..