710

Advance
d
Materials

Heat Treatment of
Steels
 Types of Heat-Treatment

•
Annealing(continuous slow cooling )
•
Normalizing (continuous moderate cooling)
•
Spheroidizing (improving machinability)
•
Quenching and Tempering (Rapid cooling
followed by heating below the critical
temperature)
•
Isothermal Heat Treatment (Isothermal
Annealing, Austempering and Martempering)
Continuous Cooling Transformation
Annealing and Normalizing
• Annealing, or a full anneal,
allows the steel to cool slowly
in a furnace, producing coarse
pearlite.
• Normalizing allows the steel to
cool more rapidly, in air,
producing fine pearlite.
Normally bainite does not form
when an alloy is continuously
cooled to room temperature.
 Spheroidizing—Improving
• Machinability
A heat treatment process done
to steels that contain a large
concentration of Fe3C.
• The spheroidizing treatment
requires several hours at about
30°C below the A1.
• This transform the Fe3C phase
morphology into large,
spherical particles.
• The microstructure is known as
spheroidite.
 Austenitizing Temperature
For annealing, austenitizing of hypoeutectoid steels is conducted
about 30°C above
the A3, producing 100% ; however, austenitizing of a
hypereutectoid steel is done at about 30°C above the A1, producing
austenite and Fe3C.

For normalizing, austenitizing is done at about 55°C above the A3 or

Acm.
Example:

Recommend temperatures for the annealing, normalizing of 1050

(0.50%C), 1076 (0.76%C), and 10113 (1.13%C) plain carbon
steels.
 Quenching (Rapid Cooling)
and Tempering

Quenching – rapid cooling
that will produce a totally
martensitic structure.

Martensite is hard and brittle
but can be made more Tempering
ductile by tempering.

Forms the tempered
martensite structure.
Isothermal Annealing Heat
Treatment Isothermal anneal
(Pearlite)

•
Involves the following step:
1. Austenitizing (heating above the
critical temperature)

2. Quenching to transformation
temperature

3. Hold until complete transformation

to pearlite.
 Austempering
•
Austempering is an isothermal
heat treatment that is applied
to steel and ductile iron.
•
Involves the following step:
1. Austenitizing (heating above the
critical temperature)

2. Quenching (fast enough to avoid

pearlite formation)

3. Hold until complete transformation

to bainite.
 Martempering
•
Martempering is a method by which the
stresses and strains generated during the
quenching of a steel component can be
controlled.
•
Involves the following step:
1. Austenitizing (heating above the critical temperature)

2. Quenching to a temperature slightly above the

martensite start (Ms) transformation point (fast
enough to avoid pearlite or bainite formation)

3. Hold until temperature of the surface and inner core is

the same.

4. Quenched in air to room temperature to permit

austenite to transform to martensite.
Formation of Composite
Microstructure
 Complicated microstructure can be produced by
interrupting the isothermal heat treatment.
 For example: An iron-carbon alloy of eutectoid
composition undergoes an isothermal heat treatment
as follows:
1. Begins at 760C and held at this temperature long
enough to have achieved a complete and
homogeneous austenitic structure
2. Rapidly cool to 650C (1200F), hold for 20 s,
3. rapidly cool to 400C (750F),hold for 1103 s,
4. and quench to room temperature

Final microstructure is 50% coarse pearlite and

50% bainite.

 Note that each time we change the

temperature, we start at zero time!
a) Ans. 50% coarse Pearlite and 50% Martensite

(a)
c) Ans. 50% Fine Pearlite 25 Bainite 25% Marensite (c)
Hardenability of Steels
 In plain carbon steels, the nose of the TTT curves
occurs at very short time.
 Very fast cooling rates are required to produce 100%
martensite.
Influences of Quenching Medium & Specimen
Geometry
• Effect of quenching medium:
Quenching Medium Severity of Quench Hardness
air low low
oil moderate moderate
water high high
• Effect of specimen geometry:
When surface area-to-volume ratio increases:
-- cooling rate throughout interior increases
-- hardness throughout interior increases
Position Cooling rate Hardness
center low low
surface high high
 Hardenability -- Steels
• Hardenability – measure of the ability to form martensite
• Jominy end quench test used to measure hardenability.

Adapted from Fig. 11.11,

flat ground Callister & Rethwisch 8e. (Fig.
specimen 11.11 adapted from A.G. Guy,
Essentials of Materials
(heated to g Science, McGraw-Hill Book
phase field) Rockwell C Company, New York, 1978.)

24ºC water hardness tests

• Plot hardness versus distance from the quenched end.

Hardness, HRC

Adapted from Fig. 11.12,

Callister & Rethwisch 8e.

Distance from quenched end

Reason Why Hardness Changes with Distance
• The cooling rate decreases with distance from quenched end.
60 Adapted from Fig. 11.13, Callister & Rethwisch

Hardness, HRC
8e. (Fig. 11.13 adapted from H. Boyer (Ed.)
40 Atlas of Isothermal Transformation and
Cooling Transformation Diagrams, American
Society for Metals, 1977, p. 376.)
20 distance from quenched end (in)
0 1 2 3

Co
ar
se
M n s it

Pe
M

Fi
ar
ar

ar
ne
te
te

li t
ns

Pe

e
i t

ar
e
e

li t e
+
Pe
ar
l ite
 Hardenability vs Alloy Composition
• Hardenability curves for 100 10 3 2Cooling rate (ºC/s)
five alloys each with, 60

Hardness, HRC
100
C = 0.4 wt% C
4340 80%M
50
40 4140

Adapted from Fig. 11.14, Callister & Rethwisch

8640

10
8e. (Fig. 11.14 adapted from figure furnished

40
5140
courtesy Republic Steel Corporation.) 20
0 10 20 30 40 50
Distance from quenched end (mm)
• "Alloy Steels" 800
(4140, 4340, 5140, 8640) T(ºC) TE
-- contain Ni, Cr, Mo 600
A B
(0.2 to 2 wt%)
400
-- these elements shift
the "nose" to longer times 200
M(start)
(from A to B) M(90%)
-- martensite is easier 0 -1
to form 10 10 103 105 Time (s)
20