Materials Science

Łukasz Kołodziejczyk, Prof. TUL

Institute of Materials Science & Engineering

[email protected]
Lecture 6 Basics of heat treatment.
In the previous
episode…
• Metal casting fundamentals.
• Rolling & forging of metals.
• Extrusion and drawing.
• Sheet-metal forming
• Powder metallurgy.
• Processing of ceramics and glass.
Some Issues on Heat Treatment
The key to improve the material property is to change its structure at
atomic level. Specific objective are strength, toughness, machinability,
ductility and brittleness.
This can be achieved through alloying and controlled heat and cooling
basically – heat treatment. The basic steps of heat treatment are:

Heating Soaking Cooling

Some Issues on Heat Treatment
Heating Soaking Cooling
• Temperature • Time of soaking • Medium of cooling
• Rate of cooling

Different
Different
compositions of
combinations of Different heat
materials and
the above treatments
initial phases of
parameters
materials
Purpose of heat treatment

01 02 03
Soften the metal prior to Relieve the effects of Achieve the final strength
shaping. strain hardening that and hardness/toughness
occurs during cold required in the finished
forming. product as one of the
end manufacturing
processes.
Some Issues on Heat Treatment

Heat treatment

annealing

Body heat treatment Surface heat treatment martensite

formation in steel
Classification of heat
treatment processes
precipitation
hardening

surface hardening
Fe-C phase diagram

The Fe-C phase diagram is a fundamental tool in materials science and engineering that provides crucial insights
into the behavior and properties of iron-carbon alloys.
This diagram showcases the different phases present in these alloys at varying temperatures and carbon
compositions, allowing scientists and engineers to design and manipulate their properties for various applications.
Non-equilibrium cooling
Simple Heat Treatments
Process (stress relief)
Annealing and Normalizing Spheroidizing
Annealing
Dispersion Strengthening Improving Machinability
Eliminating Cold Work

Annealing - A heat
treatment used to A low-temperature heat
produce a soft, coarse treatment used to Spheroidite - A
pearlite in steel by eliminate all or part of microconstituent
austenitizing, then the effect of cold containing coarse
furnace cooling. working in steels. spheroidal
cementite particles
in a matrix of ferrite,
permitting excellent
machining
Normalizing - A simple characteristics in
heat treatment obtained high-carbon steels.
by austenitizing and air
cooling to produce a fine
pearlitic structure.
Simple Heat Treatments

Heat-treating temperature ranges for plain-carbon steels, as indicated on Hardness of steels in the quenched and normalized conditions, as a
the iron-iron carbide phase diagram. Source: ASM International. function of carbon content.
 ©2003 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning is a trademark used herein under license.
Simple Heat Treatments

plain-carbon steels.
The effect of carbon and heat
treatment on the properties of
Spheroidite
Forms when pearlite or bainite structures are heated
(below eutectoid T) for an extended period.

• α crystals with spherical Fe3C

• diffusion dependent
• heat bainite or pearlite for long times
• reduces interfacial area (driving force)
Comparison and Effects of Annealing,
Normalizing, & Quenching
Annealing & Normalizing Quenching
Slow cooling process Rapid cooling process
Softens and weakens metal Hardens and strengthens metal
Produces ductility Produces brittleness
Reduces internal stresses Causes internal stresses
Helps prevent cracking and distortion Increases chances of cracking and distortion

Quenching
Annealing Normalizing
Air Oil Water
 Softer, less strong Harder and stronger →
 More ductile More brittle →
 Less internal stress More internal stress →
 Less distortion, cracking More distortion, cracking →
Cooling austenite - summary
Quench and Temper Heat Treatments
 Martensite - A metastable phase formed in steel and other materials by a
diffusionless, athermal transformation.

 Retained austenite - Austenite that is unable to transform into martensite during

quenching because of the volume expansion associated with the reaction.

 Tempering - A low-temperature heat treatment used to reduce the hardness of

martensite by permitting the martensite to begin to decompose to the
equilibrium phases.

 Tempered martensite - The microconstituent of ferrite and cementite formed

when martensite is tempered.
Other transformation products - martensite
Martensite:
• rapid cooling from above eutectoid temperature to room T
•  (FCC) to martensite (Body Centered Tetragonal)
• involves collective motion of a lot of atoms

martensite transformation
• diffusionless
• very rapid! at speed of sound
• % transf. depends on T only.
Martensite

©2003 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson

Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning is a
trademark used herein under license.

(a) The unit cell of BCT martensite is related to the FCC austenite unit cell.
(b) As the percentage of carbon increases, more interstitial sites are filled by the carbon
atoms and the tetragonal structure of the martensite becomes more pronounced.
Martensite
Increasing carbon reduces the Ms and Mf
temperatures in plain-carbon steels.
©2003 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning is a trademark used herein

©2003 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson

under license.

Learning is a trademark used herein under license.

The effect of carbon content on the

hardness of martensite in steels.
 • reduces brittleness of martensite,
Tempering martensite

• reduces internal stress caused by quenching.

©2003 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning is a trademark used herein under license.
Hardness of tempered martensite

Hardness of tempered martensite, as

a function of tempering time, for
200°C
1080 steel quenched to 65 HRC.
300°C
400°C Hardness decreases because the
500°C carbide particles coalesce and grow in
600°C
size, thereby increasing the
interparticle distance of the softer
ferrite.
The effect of tempering temperature on the
mechanical properties
©2003 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning is a trademark used

Retained austenite (white) trapped between

martensite needles (black) ( 1000).
(From ASM Handbook, Vol. 8, (1973), ASM International,
Materials Park, OH 44073.)
herein under license.

The effect of tempering temperature on the

mechanical properties of a 1050 steel.
Application of Hardenability

 Hardenability - Relative ability of a steel to be hardened in depth by quenching.

 Hardenability curves - Graphs showing the effect of the cooling rate on the
hardness of as-quenched steel.

 Jominy test - The test used to evaluate hardenability. An austenitized steel bar
is quenched at one end only, thus producing a range of cooling rates along the
bar.

 Jominy distance - The distance from the quenched end of a Jominy bar. The
Jominy distance is related to the cooling rate.
Hardenability – Jominy Test

• Measures the hardenability of a steel

• Specimen : 25 dia. X 100 mm long steel bar
Hardenability – Jominy Test