Chapter-1

Theoretical part
Introduction:
Steel is one of the most used engineering materials. It is used in
the form of beams for building support structures, train railroads,
and reinforcing rods in concrete; in the form of plates for ship
construction; in the form of tubes for boilers in power generating
plants, car radiators, and oil and gas pipelines; in the form of sheet
metal for cars, washing machines, in the form of wire for elevator
cables, and special steels are used for cutting tools (hacksaw,
blades, drill bits, knives) and for wear resistant application such as
ball bearings. There are two main reasons for the popular use of
steels:

1- steel is abundant in the earths crust in the form of Fe2O3 and

require little energy to convert it to Fe which makes its production
inexpensive.

2- it can be made to exhibit a great variety of microstructures and

thus a wide range of mechanical properties. The microstructure
that develops in carbon steels depends on:

A-the carbon content.

B- heat treatment.

Equilibrium Phases

To understand the microstructures that can be produced by heat

treatment of steel, it is necessary to consider the Fe-C phase
diagram (Fig). There are three equilibrium phases in the phase
diagram which can be obtained by very slow cooling rates to allow
equilibrium conditions prevail. Each phase has particular
characteristics
The amount of equilibrium phase changes that take place upon
slow cooling from the austenite region in the Fe-C phase diagram
into the (ferrite + cementite) phase field strongly depends on the
carbon content. Depending on the carbon content.

carbon steels can be divided into three categories: eutectoid

steels (contain exactly 0.76%C), hypo eutectoid steels (%C <
0.76), and hypereutectoid steels (%C> 0.76). The microstructure
that develops when a eutectoid steel (0.76% C) is slowly cooled
from the austenite region to below 727 C consists of alternating
layers of and cementite. This structure is called pearlite. For
hypo eutectoid steels (%C < 0.76) the microstructure consists of
pearlite surrounded by pro-eutectoid while hypereutectoid steels
(%C> 0.76) are composed of pearlite surrounded by cementite, as
illustrated in Figure 1. The equilibrium amounts of ferrite and
cementite can be calculated by the use the lever rule. The
hardness of carbon steels increases with increasing the carbon
content due to increases in the hard phase, cementite. It should be
noted that slow cooling heat treatment is not important from
practical point of view. It is used here just to demonstrate the
objectives of this experiment.

phase diagram for Fe-C showing the range of carbon steels

 Chapter-2
2-1 Carbon effect
Carbon is an element whose presence is imperative in all steel.
Indeed, carbon is the

principle hardening element of steel. That is, this alloying element

determines the level of

hardness or strength that can be attained by quenching.

Furthermore, carbon is essential

for the formation of cementite (as well as other carbides) and of

pearlite and iron-carbon martensitic, with martensitic being the
hardest of the

microstructures. Carbon is also responsible for increase in tensile

strength, hardness

resistance to wear and abrasion. However, when present in high

quantities it affects the

ductility, the toughness and the machinability of steel

The effect of carbon on the properties of plan carbon steel

2.2.1. Carbon steel:

Carbon steel (plain carbon steel) is steel which contain main

alloying element is carbon. Here we find maximum up to 1.5%
carbon and other alloying elements like

copper, manganese, silicon. Most of the steel produced now-a-

days is plain carbon steel. It is divided into the following types
depending upon the carbon content.

1. Dead or mild steel (up to 0.15% carbon)

2. Low carbon steel (0.15%-0.45% carbon)

3. Medium carbon steel(0.45%-0.8% carbon)

4. High carbon steel (0.8%-1.5% carbon)

Steel with low carbon content has properties similar to iron. As the
carbon content increases the metal becomes harder and stronger
but less ductile and more difficult to weld. Higher carbon content
lowers the melting point and its temperature resistance carbon
content cannot alter yield strength of material.

2.2.2. Low carbon steel

Low carbon steel has carbon content of 0.15% to 0.45%. Low
carbon steel is the most common type of steel as its price is
relatively low while its provides material properties that are
acceptable for many applications. It is neither externally brittle nor
ductile due to its low carbon content. It has lower tensile strength
and malleable.
2.2.3 Medium-Carbon Steels

The medium-carbon steels have carbon concentrations between

about 0.25 and 0.60 %. Additions of chromium, nickel, and
molybdenum improve the capacity of these alloys to be heat
treated, giving rise to a variety of strengthductility combinations.

2.2.4High-Carbon Steels

The high-carbon steels, normally having carbon contents between

0.60 and 1.4 %, are the hardest, strongest, and yet least ductile of
the carbon steels.

2.3.Heat-Treatment of Steels:

The term heat treatment is define as a double process which

involve heating cycle

which followed by cooling cycle after limited period of time and

applied on metals

or its alloys in solid state in manner ensure improvement its

properties.

The figure below show sequence of steps for heat treatment

Heat treatment can be applied to steel in order to improve its

hardness, strength

toughness and ductility. The type of heat treatment used will

governed by the

1- carbon content of steel

2- And its subsequent application.

The various heat treatment processes can classify as:

A- Annealing
B- Normalizing

C- Hardening

D- Tempering

A: Annealing

The term annealing refers to a heat treatment in which a material

is exposed to an elevated temperature for an extended time period
and then slowly cooled. Ordinarily, annealing is carried out to

1-increase softness, ductility, and toughness.

2- produce a specific microstructure .

3- relieve stresses

Any annealing process consists of three stages:

Stage-1- heating to the desired temperature.

Stage-2- holding or soaking at that temperature.

Stage-3- cooling, usually to room temperature.

Time is an important parameter in these procedures. During

heating and cooling, there exist temperature gradients between the
outside and interior portions of the piece; their magnitudes depend
on the size and geometry of the piece.

Annealing of Ferrous Alloys

Several different annealing procedures are employed to enhance

the properties of steel alloys. Figure (1) shows the portion of the
ironiron carbide phase diagram in the vicinity of the eutectoid.
The horizontal line at the eutectoid temperature, conventionally
labeled A1, is termed the lower critical temperature, below which,
under equilibrium conditions, all austenite will have transformed
into ferrite and cementite phases.For temperatures and
compositions above these boundaries, only the austenite phase
will prevail.
1. Full Anneal

A heat treatment known as full annealing is often utilized in low-

and medium carbon steels that will be machined or will experience
extensive plastic deformation during a forming operation. In
general, the alloy is treated by heating to a temperature of about
50C above the A3 line (to form austenite) for compositions less
than the eutectoid, or, for compositions in excess of the
eutectoid,50 C above the A1 line (to form austenite and Fe3C
phases), as noted in Figure 1.

The micro structural product of this anneal is coarse pearlite (in

addition to any pro eutectoid phase) that is relatively soft and
ductile. The full-anneal cooling in the furnace by decreasing the
temperature by (10-30) C per hour; however, a microstructure
having coarse pearlite and a uniform grain structure results.

The basic aims of annealing include:

1. Softening of steel

2. Relief stresses

3. Refine grain size

4. Improve machinability

5. Homogenous structure and remove segregation

2. Spheroidizing

Medium- and high-carbon steels having a microstructure

containing even coarse pearlite may still be too hard to
conveniently machine or plastically deform. These steels, and in
fact any steel, may be heat treated or annealed to develop the
spheroidite structure. Spheroidized steels have a maximum
softness and ductility and are easily machined or deformed. The
pheroidizing heat treatment, during which there is a coalescence of
the Fe3C to form the spheroid particles, can take place by several
methods, as follows:

Heating the alloy at a temperature just below the eutectoid [line

A1 in Figure 1, or at about (650-700 C) in the region of the phase
diagram. If the precursor microstructure contains pearlite,
spheroidizing times will ordinarily range between 15 and 25 h.

Heating to a temperature just above the eutectoid temperature,

and then either cooling very slowly in the furnace, or holding at a
temperature just below the eutectoid temperature. To some
degree, the rate at which spheroidite forms depends on prior
microstructure. For example, it is slowest for pearlite, and the finer
the pearlite, the more rapid the rate. Also, prior cold work
increases the spheroidizing reaction rate.
3. Stress Relief

Internal residual stresses may develop in metal pieces in response

to the following:

(1) Plastic deformation processes such as machining and grinding.

(2) No uniform cooling of a piece that was processed or fabricated

at an elevated temperature, such as a weld or a casting.

(3) A phase transformation that is induced upon cooling where in

parent and product phases have different densities. Distortion and
warpage may result if these residual stresses are not removed.
They may be eliminated by a stress relief annealing heat treatment
in which the piece is heated to the recommended temperature
(blow the lower critical temperature A1), for this reason there no
change in phase where ferrite and cementite remain present, held
there long enough to attain a uniform temperature, and finally
cooled to room temperature in air. The annealing temperature is
ordinarily a relatively low one such that effects resulting from cold
working and other heat treatments are not affected.

B: Normalizing

Steels that have been plastically deformed by, for example, a

rolling operation, consist of grains of pearlite (and most likely a pro
eutectoid phase), which are irregularly shaped and relatively large,
but vary substantially in size. An annealing heat treatment called
normalizing is used to refine the grains (i.e., to decrease the
average grain size) and produce a more uniform and desirable
size distribution; fine-grained pearlite steels are tougher than
coarse-grained ones.
The basic aim for normalizing:

1. Refine grain size and homogenous structure.

2. Produce steel has high strength and hardness

Normalizing is accomplished by heating at least (55C) above the

upper critical temperaturethat is, above A3 for compositions less
than the eutectoid (0.76 % C), and above Acm for compositions
greater than the eutectoid .After sufficient time has been allowed
for the alloy to completely transform to austenitea procedure
termed austenitein normalizing the steel is removed from
furnace and allowed to cool in still air this rapid method of cooling
limited grain growth ,so that the mechanical properties are some
batter than in an annealing component .