Material Technology

Fabrication of metals and alloys

and Heat Treatments

Dr. Mahendra S. Gaikwad

Department Of Chemical Engineering
NIT Raipur

Fabrication of metals and alloys

Four basic manufacturing processes:

Casting – to give a shape by pouring in liquid metal into a
mold that holds the required shape, and letting harden the
metal without external pressure.
Forming – to give shape in solid state by applying pressure.
Machining – in which material is removed in order to give it
the required shape.
Joining – where different parts are joined by various means.
Other important technique is powder metallurgy.
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Metal Casting – Metal Forming
Four important casting techniques are:
• Sand casting
• Die casting
• Investment casting
• Continuous casting
Four important forming techniques are:
• Forging
• Rolling
• Extrusion
• Drawing
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 Heat Treatments

Introduction…
Defined as an operation or a combination of operation
involving heating or cooling of metals or alloys in the solid
state.

Basic purpose is to alter the structure and to improve the

certain mechanical properties.

Plays a vital role in the manufacturing process of machine

parts and tools.

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 Heat treatment
All heat treatment processes consist of three main
parts/steps
1. The heating of metal to the pre determined temperature.
2. The soaking of the metal at that temperature until the
structure become uniform throughout the section.
3. The cooling of metal to some pre determined rate to form
desire structure.

PURPOSE OF HEAT TREATMENT…

Improve machineability
Relieve internal stresses of grains
Improve mechanical properties (ductility, strength,
hardness etc.)
Refine grain size.
Increase resistance to heat and corrosion
Modify the chemical and magnetic properties.
Change the chemical composition
Remove gases

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Applications
Aircraft Industry

Automobile Manufacturing

Defense Sector

Forging

Foundry

Heavy Machinery Manufacturing

Powder Metal Industries

TYPES OF HEAT TREATMENTS…

1. Annealing
2. Normalizing
3. Hardening
4. Tempering
5. Case hardening
I. Carburising
II. Cyanading
III. Nitriding
6. Surface hardening
I. Induction hardening
II. Flame hardening

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 Annealing
It is widely used operations in the heat treatment of steel and
other metals..
The purpose
◦ Softening of the metal
◦ Improve machinability
◦ Increase or restore ductility and toughness
◦ Relieve internal stresses
◦ Reduce or eliminate structural inhomogeneity
◦ Refine grain size.

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 Types of Annealing
Full annealing
Process annealing
Spheroidise annealing
Homogenising
Isothermal annealing

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Full annealing…
Wipes out all traces of previous structure by complete
phase recrystallization

Consists of
◦ Heating the slightly higher than the critical temp
◦ Holding it at the same temp for a considerable
time
◦ Slowly cooling

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 Full annealing…
Excess temp above the critical is provided to equalize
the chemical composition of the austenite (Generally
formed at higher temp)
After achieving heating temp, metal is held at this
temp for some time.
Purpose of holding is to make certain internal changes
in the structure of material.
The holding time is not less than 3 to 4 min for each
millimeter of section.

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Full annealing…
After holding, the metal is slowly cooled or removed from the
furnace and put in a non conducting material like sand.
Carbon steel are cooled at a rate of 150 to 200 oC per hr.
Alloy steel are cooled at a rate of 30 to 100 oC per hr (Slow
cooing because austenite is very stable).
The slow cooling enables austenite to decompose so as
◦ to form a pearlite and ferrite structure in hypo eutectoid
steel,
◦ to form a pearlite in eutectoid steel and
◦ to form a pearlite and cementite in hyper eutectoid steel

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Process or recrystallisation annealing…

Generally apply to cold worked steel of less ductility
and high internal stresses which make it unsuitable for
further plastic deformation.
Purpose
◦ To restore ductility
◦ To relieve internal stress
Process annealing consists of
◦ Heating (500 to 700o C)
◦ Holding
◦ Slow cooling

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Process or recrystallisation annealing…
Process annealing causes the grains of the steel (broken
or distorted during deformation) to come back into
their normal state.
This process does not produce any new structure by
phase transformation but produces new crystals.

This process is applied to low carbon steel only.

Application: In the production of the cold rolled steel
as an intermediate process to increase the plasticity of
steel.

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Spherodise annealing…
The Process of producing a structure of globular pearlite is
known as spherodise annealing or spherodising.
Purpose
◦ To improve machine ability
◦ To relieve internal stress
Spherodise annealing consists of
◦ Heating (730 to 770 oC)
◦ Holding
◦ Slow cooling (25-300 C per hr)
Transformation of globuler pearlite from lameller pearlite.

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Homogenizing or diffusion annealing…
Apply to steel ingots (both carbon and alloy steel) and
heavy complex castings.
Purpose
◦ To eliminate chemical inhomogeneity within the separate
crystal by diffusion
Diffusion annealing consists of
◦ Heating (1100 to 1200o C)
◦ Holding
◦ Slow cooling (up to 800 -850 for 6 to 8 hrs.)

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Isothermal annealing…
Annealing consists of

◦ Heating (600 to 700 oC)

◦ Holding (isothermally or at const temp) for
decomposition to pearlite
◦ Slow cooling (up to 50-100 oC).

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 Normalizing…
Frequently applied as a final heat treatment for metals
operated at relatively high stresses.
Purpose:
◦ To eliminate high grained structure
◦ To remove internal stresses
◦ To improve mechanical property
◦ To increase the strength of medium carbon steel
◦ To improve the machine ability of low carbon steel
◦ To improve structure of welds

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Normalizing…
Normalizing is similar to annealing except two aspects

◦ Heating range is somewhat higher than annealing

◦ Rate of cooling is increased by allowing metal to cool in
air
Advantages over annealing:
◦ Improvement in mechanical properties is somewhat
higher
◦ Time span of heating is lower hence less consumption of
fuel or electric power.

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Normalizing…
Consists of
◦ Heating at temp 40 to 50oC above critical temp.
◦ Holding (about 15 min)
◦ Cooling in air
Normalized steel have
◦ Higher yield point
◦ Higher tensile strength
◦ Higher impact strength

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Preference between Annealing and

Normalizing…

If improvement in mechanical properties is main

objective – Normalizing is more preferable

If improvement in machine ability and relief of

internal stresses is main objective than improvement in
mechanical properties – Annealing is performed

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Hardening

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 Hardening…
Frequently applied to all tools and machine parts
employed for heavy duty service made of alloy steel.
Purpose:
◦ To develop high hardness to resist wear and enable
it to cut other metals
◦ To improve strength, elasticity, ductility and
toughness
Consists of
◦ Heating the steel at temperature above critical temp.
◦ Holding for a considerable time
◦ Quenching (rapid cooling) in water or oil
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Hardening…
Hypo eutectoid steel are heated from 30 to 50 0C above
higher critical point that transforms ferrite + pearlite into
austenite.

Hyper eutectoid steel are heated from 30 to 50 0C above

lower critical point that transforms cementite + pearlite into
austenite.

Rapid cooling enables the austenite to decompose to

martensite (harder component )

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 Requirement for Hardening…
Carbon and alloy content
Some carbon content must be present to produce
hardening of steel
Higher carbon content in material produce good hardness
(austenite)
Presence of the alloying elements which make steel hard.
Hardening temperature to form homogeneous austenite
Depend upon the chemical composition and mainly on the
carbon content

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Requirement for Hardening…

Heating rate and heating time
Gradually and uniform rate of heating prevent development
of the internal stresses and cracks in metal.
Heating time for carbon tool steel and structured medium
alloy steel should be 25-50% higher than carbon structural
steel.
Quenching rate and Quenching media
High rate of quenching decompose to martensite.
while low rate decompose austenite in to ferrite and cementite.

Different cooling rates in different media produce different

hardness.
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 Tempering

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Tempering…
Tempering is a heat treatment technique applied to
ferrous alloys, such as steel or cast iron, to achieve
greater toughness by decreasing the hardness of the
alloy.

The reduction in hardness is usually accompanied by

an increase in ductility, thereby decreasing the
brittleness of the metal.

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Tempering is followed by quenching so as to
improve some unfavorable characteristics of steel.
Purpose:
◦ To stabilize the structure of metal
◦ To reduce internal stresses produce due to previous
heating
◦ To reduce some of the hardness and to increase the
ductility of the metal

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Tempering…
Consist of:
◦ Reheating the steel after hardening to temp below
lower critical temp
◦ Holding it for a considerable time
◦ Slow cooling
Tempering is classified into three different types
1. Low temp tempering
2. Medium temp tempering
3. High temp tempering

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 Low temperature Tempering…
Tempering range is 150 to 2500 C
Purpose is to relieve internal stresses and to
increase the ductility without significantly
reducing hardness
Low temp tempering is applied in the heat
treatment of
Low carbon alloy steel cutting tools,
measuring tools.

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Medium temperature Tempering…

Tempering range is 350 to 4500 C
During this process troosite is formed from
martensite.
Tempering results in reduction of hardness and
strength of the metal and in increase in the
elongation and ductility
Medium temp tempering is applied to the articles
and the parts which are subjected to impact
loads: Chisels, hammers, springs, spring plates,
etc.

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High temperature Tempering…
Tempering range is 500 to 6500 C
During this process sorbite is formed from
martensite in the steel and the internal stresses
are almost completely eliminated.
Tempering imparts high ductility to parts and
adequate hardness.
High temp tempering is applied to machine
parts which are subjected to high stress and
impacts: Gear wheels, shafts, connecting roads
etc.

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 Case Hardening

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Case Hardening (Carburising)…

Oldest method of producing a hard surface on
steel
The steel used for this purpose is usually a low
carbon steel of about 0.15% carbon
During this process, the outer layer is converted
into high carbon steel with a carbon content
ranges from 0.9 -1.2% carbon
If heat treatment provided is efficient, it produce
extremely hard surface on outside and soft
ductile core.

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Case Hardening (Carburising)…
This process contains heating of steel or iron until
it becomes red hot.
Heating is done in presence of some carbon
material like wood, charcoal, bone char etc.
During heating some energizers are added like
carbonates of barium, calcium or sodium.
Energizers increase the concentration of carbon
monoxide and improve the rate of carburising.

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Case Hardening (Carburising)…

At temp close to and above critical temp, iron has
an affinity for carbon.
The carbon enters the metal to form a solid
solution with iron and converts the outer surface
into high carbon steel.
On completion of the treatment composite steel is
formed having a hard carbon case and a low
carbon core.

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Cyaniding…
Method of producing a hard surface on low
carbon or medium carbon steel.
Process consists of two steps:
◦ Heating steel at 800 to 9000 C in a molten salt bath in
presence of cyanide.
◦ Quenching the steel in water or oil.
Heating is provided in presence of compound of
carbon and nitrogen that results in increasing
hardness.

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Cyaniding…
Molten salt bath is contained with NaCl, Na2CO3 and
NaCN in order to enhance the rate.

This method produce 0.125 mm thick hard case at 850o C

under average condition within 15 min.

Special salt composition in molten bath has ability to

produce more thick hard case to the extent of 0.8 mm.

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Cyaniding…
Advantages:

◦ Bright finished machine part is produced.

◦ The change of hardness from the case to core is

gradual and flaking of case is eliminated.

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Nitriding…
Method of producing a hard surface on alloy
steel only.
Process consists of heating steel at 500 to 6500 C
in an atmosphere of ammonia gas.
Ammonia is dissociated and the nascent
nitrogen combines with the elements in steel to
form nitrides.
Nitrides gives extreme hardness to the surface
and produce 0.2-0.4 mm thick hard case.

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Nitriding…
Application: Apply to
automotive parts,
Airplane,
diesel engine wearing parts,
pump shafts,
gears, clutches etc.

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Surface Hardening
In many situations hard and wear resistance surface is
required with the tough core. Because of tough core the
components can withstand impact load.
The typical applications requiring these conditions include
gear teeth, camshafts, bearings, crank pins, clutch plate,
tools and dies.
The combination of the these properties can be achieved by
the following methods:
(i) Flame Hardening (ii) Induction Hardening

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Flame Hardening
The flame hardening involves heating the surface of a steel
to a temperature above upper critical point (850 oC) with a
oxyacetylene flame and
then immediately quenched the surface with cold water.
Heating transforms the structure of surface layers to
austenite, and the quenching changes it to martensite.

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The surface layers are hardened to about 50 - 60 HRC.

It is less expensive.
it can be easily adopted for large and complex shapes.
Flame hardened parts must be tempered after hardening.
The tempering temperature depends on the alloy
composition and desired hardness.
The flame hardening methods are suitable for the steels with
carbon.

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Induction Hardening
Induction hardening involves placing the steel components
within a coil through which high frequency current is passed.
The current in the coil induce eddy current in the surface
layers, and heat the surface layers up to austenite state.
Then the surface is immediately quenched with the cold
water to transfer the austenite to martensite.
The principle of induction hardening is

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Advantages of induction hardening over flame hardening is

its speed and ability to harden small parts
but it is expensive.
Like flame hardening, it is suitable for medium carbon and
low alloy steels.
Typical applications for induction hardening are crank
shafts, camshafts, connecting rods, gears and cylinders.

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