Heat Treatment PPT

Heat Treatment
Objectives of Heat Treatment:

(i) Increase hardness, wear and abrasion resistance and cutting ability of
steel.
(ii) Re-soften the steel which is hardened by other heat treatment
(iii) Alter mechanical, physical or chemical properties of steel
(iv) Obtain desired microstructure
(v) Reduce or eliminate internal residual stresses as internal stresses lead
to premature or brittle failure of the components
(vi) Decrease or increase grain size
(vii) Change the composition of the surface (i.e., case) by diffusion of C,N, Si
etc., to increase wear resistance, fatigue life and corrosion resistance.
Annealing
• Steel is annealed to reduce the hardness, improve machine ability, facilitate cold-
working, produce a desired microstructure.
• Full annealing is the process of softening steel by a heating and cooling cycle, so
that it may be bent or cut easily.
• In annealing, steel is heated above the transformation temperature to form
austenite, and cooled very slowly, usually in the furnace.
Types of Annealing
1. Bright Annealing
2. Box Annealing
3. Isothermal Annealing
4. Spheroidizing Annealing
5. Sub-critical Annealing
i. Stress-Relief Annealing
ii. Recrystallization Annealing
iii. Process Annealing

1. Bright Annealing
• In this process, annealing is carried in a protective atmosphere to
prevent oxidation. It also prevents discoloration of steels
• Such annealing gives a bright surface finish on the component and
hence is called as Bright Annealing.
• The protective atmosphere is created using an inert gas such as argon,
nitrogen, or any other reducing atmosphere.
• A typical reducing atmosphere consists of 15% H2,10% CO, 5% C02,
1.5% CH4 and balance N2.

2. Box Annealing :
• In this process, annealing of components is carried out in a sealed
container under conditions that reduces oxidation.
• The components to be annealing are packed in the container along with
charcoal, cast iron, chips, sand, etc.
• The annealing steps i.e., heating and cooling is similar to that of full
annealing. It is also referred to as black annealing.
3. Isothermal Annealing
• This process consists of fast cooling of steels from the austenitizing temperature
to a constant temperature just below A1 temperature.
• The steel is held at this constant temperature for sufficient period to allow
complete transformation. It is then fast cooled to room temperature in air.
• Because of cooling at constant temperature, transformation occurs uniformly
throughout the cross-section.
• It improves the machinability and surface finish of the component as compared
to full annealing.
4. Spherodise Annealing
• This type of annealing is used to improve machinability of steel.
• The process produces spheroids of cementite or carbides in the matrix of
ferrite. These spheroids cause discontinuity in the microstructure. thus,
improving the machinability of steel.
• The methods used to produce spheroids include
(i) Hardening and then subsequently high temperature tempering.
(ii) Holding the steel just below the A1 temperature for long time.
(iii) Cyclic heating and cooling around A1 temperature.
5. Sub-critical Annealing :
This annealing involves heating the cold worked steels to some temperature
below the A1 (lower critical temperature) temperature. Hence, it is referred as
sub-critical annealing.
Stress - relief annealing - The process consists of heating the steel in the
temperature range of 500 to 550 °C and then kept at this temperature for
about 1-2 hours and cooled to room temperature in air.
Recrystallisation Annealing- This process consists of heating the cold worked
steel to a temperature lower than critical temperature (A1)
Process Annealing-This process consists of heating the cold worked steel to a
temperature above the recrystallization temperature i.e. in the range of 550 to
650 °C.
Normalising
• Normalizing consists of heating the steel to about 30-50°C above the

upper critical temperature and holding it at that temperature for a short
period which is sufficient just to ensure formation of homogeneous
austenite and then fast cooling in still air.
Purpose of Normalising :
(i) Eliminate the carbide network in case of hyper-eutectoid steels.
(ii) To produce uniform micro-structure.
(iii) To refine the grain structure.
(iv) To improves ductility without loss of strength.
(v) To produce harder and stronger steel than that produced by full annealing.
Hardening
Purpose :
• To harden the steel to the maximum, extend without cracking or
warpage.
• To increase the wear resistance and improve the cutting ability of steel.
Hardening can be carried out by following processes
(i) Conventional hardening
(ii) Timed quench
(iii) Martempering
(iv) Ausforming
Conventional Hardening :
This process consists of heating the steel to about 50°C above A 3
temperature for hypoeutectoid steel and above A1 temperature for hyper-
eutectoid steel, soaking for some time to allow homogeneous
austenitization, followed by a cooling it to room temperature at a rate
faster than critical cooling rate.
Timed Quench :
• The critical cooling- rate for low and
medium carbon steel is very high.
Therefore, very fast cooling is
required to by-pass the nose of C.C.T.
curve and result into diffusionless
martensite transformation.
• Such high cooling rate also causes
cracking of steel.
• This problem is overcome by using
interrupted quench i.e. timed
quench.
Martempering :
• Martempering is similar to timed
quench process except that some
soaking time is allowed for
equalization of temperature.
• This process produces martensite with
the following advantages :
Less distortions.
Less warping of components, and
Reduce possibility of cracks
Ausforming :
• This process involves mechanical
working (forming or rolling) of steel
before martensitic transformation.
• In this process, the austenitized steel is
rapid cooled to a temperature just
below the nose of the C.C.T. curve,
followed by mechanical working and
then rapid cooling to room
temperature in oil.
• The plastic deformation in austenite
results in fine grained martensite and
produces better combination of
ductility and hardness in steels.
Other Heat Treatments
Austempering Patenting
Isoforming
Retention of Austenite
Benefits of retained austenite :
(i) Retained austenite is a soft phase and reduces the tendency of cracking
during hardening. It is desirable to have about 10% retained austenite.
(ii) In case, the amount of retained austenite is about 30-40 %, the steel can be
cold worked to certain degree without cracking.
Disadvantages of retained austenite :
(i) Retained austenite reduces hardness of the steel.
(ii) Slowly austenite gets transformed to bainite which has different properties.
(iII) Not desirable in certain applications such as tool and die blocks.
Elimination of Retained Austenite

1. Sub-zero treatment
2. Plastic deformation
3. Tempering
1. Sub-zero treatment
 It involves cooling the hardened steel to a temperature well below the room
temperature.
 Commonly used cooling medium for such treatment ranges from
• ice+ salt bath (-23°C)
• liquid air (-183°C)
• liquid nitrogen(-196 °C)
• liquid helium (-269°C)
 If the quenched steel is held at room temperature for some time before
subjected to sub-zero treatment, then less austenite gets transformed to
martensite. Hence, sub-zero treatment should be done immediately after
quenching.
 used for high carbon hardened components such as tool steels, etc.
2. Plastic deformation
 Plastic deformation of hardened steels involves mechanical working on the
steel component at some temperature above Ms resulting in martensitic
transformation.
 This phenomenon is called as deformation induced martensitic
transformation.
 The temperature at which deformation induced martensitic transformation
starts is called as Md.
 This treatment is used for low and medium carbon steel, wherein the amount
of retained austenite is more.
3. Tempering
 It is the process of heating the hardened steel to some temperature below
the A1 temperature and then cooling to room temperature.

 This process eliminates retained austenite from steel and can be used for
small and large amount of retained austenite.
Purpose of Tempering :
 To relieve internal stresses developed
during rapid cooling of hardened steel.
 To eliminate retained austenite.
 To reduce hardness of steel and improve
ductility and toughness.

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Heat Treatment

Objectives of Heat Treatment:

ii. Recrystallization Annealing

iii. Process Annealing

• A typical reducing atmosphere consists of 15% H2,10% CO, 5% C02,

1.5% CH4 and balance N2.

• Normalizing consists of heating the steel to about 30-50°C above the

(i) Eliminate the carbide network in case of hyper-eutectoid steels.

(ii) To produce uniform micro-structure.

(iii) To refine the grain structure.

(iv) To improves ductility without loss of strength.

Elimination of Retained Austenite

the A1 temperature and then cooling to room temperature.

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