Metal Heat Treatment

D. Navaja
MSE101

http://www.investacast.com/materials-cast
Learning Objectives

 Explain the purpose and effects of Heat treatments.

 Identify the different microstructures steel forms at
different rates of cooling and heating.
 Identify the factors affecting heat treatments.
Discipline of Material Science

Process Structure Properties Performance

What does heat treatment mean?

 Heat treatment is any one of a number of controlled heating

and cooling operations used to bring about a desired change in
the physical properties of a metal.
 It involves heating – soaking – cooling process to achieve
desired result such as hardening or softening.
 Its purpose is to improve the structural and physical properties
for some particular use or for future work of the metal.
Benefits of Heat Treatment
 to increase strength, hardness and wear resistance (bulk hardening, surface
hardening)
 to increase ductility and softness (tempering, recrystallization annealing)
 to increase toughness (tempering, recrystallization annealing)
 to obtain fine grain size (recrystallization annealing, full annealing,
normalizing)
 to remove internal stresses induced by differential deformation by cold
working, non-uniform cooling from high temperature during casting and
welding (stress relief annealing)
Thermal Processing of Metals
Hardening - heating the metal
Tempering - relieve the internal
to the required temperature and then
stresses and reduce
cooling it rapidly by
its brittleness after hardening process.
plunging the hot metal into a
Cooling in air.
quenching medium, such as oil,
water, or brine.
Case Hardening - an ideal Normaling - to relieve the
heat treatment for parts Types of internal stresses produced by
which require a wear- machining, forging, or welding.
resistant surface and a
Heat Harder and tougher than
tough core. Ex. Carburizing, Treatment annealed steel.
nitriding.
Annealing - relieve internal stresses,
Solution Hardening – To increase soften them, make them more
tensile strength of non-ferrous alloys by ductile, and refine their grain
causing materials within the alloy to go structures. Cooling rate is very slow.
into the solid solution and controlling the Applicable to both ferrous and 6
extent or return to a mechanical mixture. nonferrous metals
Iron-Carbon (Fe-C) Phase Diagram
• 2 important T(ºC)
• Ferrite – BCC iron
1600
points d with carbon in solid
- Eutectic (A): 1400 L solution. (soft,
ductile, magnetic)
L  g + Fe3C g g +L
1200 A • Austenite – FCC iron
1148ºC L+Fe3C
- Eutectoid (B): (austenite) with carbon in solid

Fe3C (cementite)
solution (soft,
g  a + Fe3C 1000 g g g +Fe3C moderate in strength,
g g non-magnetic)
a • Cementite, Fe3C –
800 727ºC = T eutectoid
B
hard and brittle.
600 a +Fe3C • Pearlite – Alternate
Pearlite layers of ferrite and
400
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 6.7
cementite.
120 mm
(Fe) 0.76 4.30 C, wt% C • Martensite – iron-
Result: Pearlite = carbon with BCT
Fe3C (cementite-hard) resulting from heat
alternating layers of
a and Fe3C phases a (ferrite-soft) 7 treat and quench.
(Adapted from Fig. 9.27, Adapted from Fig. 9.24,
Callister & Rethwisch 8e.) Callister & Rethwisch 8e.
Time-Temperature-Transformation Curve
(TTT)
 TTT diagram is a plot of temperature vs the logarithm of
time for steel alloy of definite composition.
 It is used to determine when transformations begin and
end for an isothermal heat treatment of a previously
austenitized alloy.
 TTT diagram indicates when a specific transformation
starts and ends and it also shows what percentage of
transformation of austenite at a particular temperature is
achieved.
Time-Temperature-Transformation Curve
(TTT) Curve

The TTT diagram for AISI 1080 steel

(0.79%C, 0.76%Mn) austenitized at
9000C
Designer Alloys:

 Utilize heat treatments to design optimum

microstructures and mechanical properties (strength,
ductility, hardness, etc).
 Strength in steels correlates with how much martensite
remains in the final structure.
 Hardenability: The ability of a structure to transform to
martensite.
 Martensite
 Has the strongest microstrusture.
 Can be made more ductile by tempering.
Hardenability--Steels
• Ability to form martensite
• Jominy end quench test to measure hardenability.

Adapted from Fig. 11.11,

flat ground Callister 7e. (Fig. 11.11
specimen adapted from A.G. Guy,
(heated to g Essentials of Materials
Science, McGraw-Hill Book
phase field) Rockwell C Company, New York,
24°C water hardness tests 1978.)

• Hardness versus distance from the quenched end.

Hardness, HRC

Adapted from Fig. 11.12,

Callister 7e.

11
Distance from quenched end
 Why Hardness Changes with Position?

Hardness, HRC
60

40
specimen
(heated to g 20
0 1 2 3
distance from quenched end (in)
phase field) T(°C) 0%
24°C water 600 100%
Adapted from Fig. 11.13, Callister 7e.
(Fig. 11.13 adapted from H. Boyer (Ed.)
400 Atlas of Isothermal Transformation and
Cooling Transformation Diagrams,
M(start) American Society for Metals, 1977, p.
• The cooling rate varies 200 376.)
with position. AM

0 M(finish)

0.1 1 10 100 1000

12
Time (s)
Hardenability vs Alloy Composition
• Jominy end quench 100 10 3 2 Cooling rate (°C/s)
results, C = 0.4 wt% C 60

Hardness, HRC
100

4340 80 %M
Adapted from Fig. 11.14, Callister 7e.
50
• Alloying elements delay the 40 4140
(Fig. 11.14 adapted from figure furnished
courtesy Republic Steel Corporation.)
formation of pearlite, bainite: 8640
more martensite.
5140
20
0 10 20 30 40 50
Distance from quenched end (mm)
• "Alloy Steels" 800
(4140, 4340, 5140, 8640) T(°C) TE
--contain Ni, Cr, Mo 600 shift from
A B
(0.2 to 2wt%) A to B due
--these elements shift 400 to alloying
the "nose". M(start)
200
--martensite is easier M(90%)
to form. 0 -1 3 5 13
10 10 10 10 Time (s)
Quenching Medium & Geometry
• Effect of quenching medium:

Medium Severity of Quench Hardness

air low low
oil moderate moderate
water high high

• Effect of geometry:
When surface-to-volume ratio increases:
--cooling rate increases
--hardness increases

Position Cooling rate Hardness

center low low
surface high high
 Forging

Heat Treatment

Quenching
Precipitation Hardening

 Precipitation hardening, also called age

hardening, is a heat treatment technique used to
increase the yield strength
of malleable materials, including most structural
alloys of aluminium, magnesium, nickel, titanium,
and some steels and stainless steels.
 In superalloys, it is known to cause yield strength
anomaly providing excellent high-temperature
strength.
PRECIPITATION HARDENING
• Particles impede dislocations.
• Ex: Al-Cu system
• Procedure:
--Pt A: solution heat treat
(get a solid solution)
--Pt B: quench to room temp.
--Pt C: reheat to nucleate
small q crystals within
a crystals.
• Other precipitation
systems: Adapted from Fig. 11.22, Callister 6e. (Fig. 11.22 adapted
• Cu-Be from J.L. Murray, International Metals Review 30, p.5, 1985.)

• Cu-Sn
• Mg-Al

Adapted from Fig.

11.20, Callister 6e.
PRECIPITATE EFFECT ON TS, %EL
• 2014 Al Alloy:
• TS peaks with • %EL reaches minimum
precipitation time. with precipitation time.
• Increasing T accelerates
process.

Adapted from Fig. 11.25 (a) and (b), Callister 6e. (Fig. 11.25 adapted from Metals Handbook:
Properties and Selection: Nonferrous Alloys and Pure Metals, Vol. 2, 9th ed., H. Baker
(Managing Ed.), American Society for Metals, 1979. p. 41.)
Summary
 Heat treatment is used to improve the structural, mechanical, and physical
properties for some particular use or for future work of the metal without changing
the metal shape.
 Used to alter certain manufacturability:
 Improved machining
 Improved formability
 Restore ductility after cold working.

 Microstructure depends on the following:

 Composition (phase diagram)
 Cooling process (TTT diagram)
 Factor affecting heat treatment
 Alloy composition
 Quench medium
 Geometry
Summary
 Precipitation Hardening: Control of particle size, and subsequently strength, is
accomplished by two heat treatments:
 In the first, or solution heat treatment, all solute atoms are dissolved to form a single-
phase solid solution; quenching to a relatively low temperature preserves this state.
 the second or precipitation treatment (at constant temperature), precipitate particles form
and grow; strength, hardness, and ductility are dependent on heat treating time (and
particle size).
 The strengthening phenomenon is explained in terms of an increased resistance to
dislocation motion by lattice strains, which are established in the vicinity of these
microscopically small precipitate particles.
Assignment #6

 Compare the effectiveness of quenching in moderately agitated

water and oil by graphing, on a single plot, radial hardness profiles
for 65-mm diameter cylindrical specimens of an 8630 steel that have
been quenched in both media. Provide analysis.
Equiv. Distance, mm Hardness HRC
Radial Position
Water Oil Water Oil
Surface 2.5 10 52 37
3/4 radius 7 15 43 32
Midradius 11 18 36 29
Center 13 20 33 28