Completely describe the Iron-Carbon Diagram with helping

figure

Strain hardening
Work hardening, also known as strain hardening, is the strengthening of a metal or polymer by
plastic deformation. Work hardening may be desirable, undesirable, or inconsequential,
depending on the context. This strengthening occurs because of dislocation movements and
dislocation generation within the crystal structure of the material. Many non-brittle metals with
a reasonably high melting point as well as several polymers can be strengthened in this fashion.
Alloys not amenable to heat treatment, including low-carbon steel, are often work-hardened.
Some materials cannot be work-hardened at low temperatures, such as indium, however others
can only be strengthened via work hardening, such as pure copper and aluminum.
Applications
Strain Hardening in Aerospace Alloys. Strain hardening is one of the important strengthening
mechanisms, which plays significant role in processing and application of metals and alloys.
For non‐heat treatable alloys, it becomes more important. Role of temperature in this behavior
is also included.

Annealing
In metallurgy and materials science, annealing is a heat treatment that alters the physical and
sometimes chemical properties of a material to increase its ductility and reduce its hardness, making it
more workable. It involves heating a material above its recrystallization temperature, maintaining a
suitable temperature for a suitable amount of time, and then cooling.
In annealing, atoms migrate in the crystal lattice and the number of dislocations decreases, leading to
a change in ductility and hardness. As the material cools it recrystallizes. For many alloys, including
carbon steel, the crystal grain size and phase composition, which ultimately determine the material
properties, are dependent on the heating rate and cooling rate. Hot working or cold working after the
annealing process alter the metal structure, so further heat treatments may be used to achieve the
properties required. With knowledge of the composition and phase diagram, heat treatment can be
used to adjust from harder and more brittle to softer and more ductile.

Applications
Quenching
In materials science, quenching is the rapid cooling of a workpiece in water, oil or air to obtain certain
material properties. A type of heat treating, quenching prevents undesired low-temperature processes,
such as phase transformations, from occurring. It does this by reducing the window of time during
which these undesired reactions are both thermodynamically favorable, and kinetically accessible; for
instance, quenching can reduce the crystal grain size of both metallic and plastic materials, increasing
their hardness.

Normalizing
Steels that have undergo plastic deformation consist of pearlites which are irregularly shaped
and relatively large, but varying in size. Normalizing is a heat treatment used on steel so as to
refine its crystal structure and produces a more uniform and desired grain size distribution. Fine
grained pearlites are tougher than coarse grained ones. Normalization eliminates internal
stresses, strains and improves the mechanical properties of the steel, such as improving its
toughness and machinability. A better ductility can also be obtained without compromising the
hardness and strength.
Normalizing is accomplished by heating the steel to a temperature above the transformation
range and into the range of complete austenite. This is dependent on the composition of the
steel as indicated by the iron-carbon diagram shown below. The usual normalizing temperature
ranges from 815°C to 980°C (1500°F to 1800°F), depending on the steel involved.
After sufficient time is given for complete transformation to austenite, i.e. austenitizing of the
steel, the alloy is air-cooled to a temperature substantially below the transformation range. The
air-cooling avoids excessive proeutectoid segregation. The cooling rate is usually in the range
of 500 to 1000 °C/h (900 to 1800 °F/h). The final microstructure consists of fine pearlite and
an absence of massive proeutectoid ferrite. Normalizing is commonly specified for plates of
pressure vessel quality hence to ASTM standards above 1 ½ inch in thickness.

Tempering
Tempering is a process of heat treating, which is used to increase the toughness of iron-based
alloys. Tempering is usually performed after hardening, to reduce some of the excess hardness,
and is done by heating the metal to some temperature below the critical point for a certain
period of time, then allowing it to cool in still air. The exact temperature determines the amount
of hardness removed, and depends on both the specific composition of the alloy and on the
desired properties in the finished product. For instance, very hard tools are often tempered at
low temperatures, while springs are tempered at much higher temperatures

Applications
Case Hardening
Case-hardening or surface hardening is the process of hardening the surface of a metal object
while allowing the metal deeper underneath to remain soft, thus forming a thin layer of harder
metal (called the "case") at the surface. For iron or steel with low carbon content, which has
poor to no hardenability of its own, the case-hardening process involves infusing additional
carbon or nitrogen into the surface layer. Case-hardening is usually done after the part has been
formed into its final shape, but can also be done to increase the hardening element content of
bars to be used in a pattern welding or similar process. The term face hardening is also used to
describe this technique, when discussing modern armour.

Applications
Parts that are subject to high pressures and sharp impacts are still commonly case-hardened.
Examples include firing pins and rifle bolt faces, or engine camshafts. In these cases, the
surfaces requiring the hardness may be hardened selectively, leaving the bulk of the part in its
original tough state.
Firearms were a common item case-hardened in the past, as they required precision machining
best done on low carbon alloys, yet needed the hardness and wear resistance of a higher carbon
alloy. Many modern replicas of older firearms, particularly single action revolvers, are still
made with case-hardened frames, or with case coloring, which simulates the mottled pattern
left by traditional charcoal and bone case-hardening.
Another common application of case-hardening is on screws, particularly self-drilling screws.
In order for the screws to be able to drill, cut and tap into other materials like steel, the drill
point and the forming threads must be harder than the material(s) that it is drilling into.
However, if the whole screw is uniformly hard, it will become very brittle and it will break
easily. This is overcome by ensuring that only the case is hardened and the core remains
relatively soft. For screws and fasteners, case-hardening is achieved by a simple heat treatment
consisting of heating and then quenching.