LECTURE 18

Spheroidizing
• Steels that contain a large concentration of Fe3C (hypereutectoid steels)
have poor machining characteristics.
• Spheroidizing heat treatment can transform the morphology of Fe3C.
• The treatment requires to hold the alloy for several hours at about 30°C
below the A1 (Eutectoid temp) while the Fe3C phase morphology changes
into large, spherical particles in order to reduce boundary area.
• The microstructure, known as spheroidite has a continuous matrix of soft,
machinable ferrite and spherical cementite particles.
• After machining, the steel is given further heat treatment to produce the
required properties.
• Alloying elements such as Pb and S are also added to improve
machinability of steels
• Lead-free “green steels” that have very good machinability have been
developed.
• Spheroidizing can also be conducted by cyclic processing, in which the
temperature of the steel is cycled above and below the A1 line. This
process breaks down lamellar pearlite into small pieces and forms small
cementite spheroids through diffusion in a continuous matrix of ferrite.
• Another option is to start with a martensitic structure that produces a
very uniform dispersion of cementite spheroids, because carbon is more
uniformly distributed in martensite than in lamellar pearlite.
• The cementite lamellae in pearlite must first dissolve and then
redistribute the carbon as spheroids, whereas cementite spheroids can
form directly from martensite.
• Spheroidizing can give minimum hardness and maximum ductility.
 Quenching
• The steel is rapidly cooled from the austenitization temperature (quenched)
• The carbon does not have time to diffuse out of the austenite microstructure
when it transforms into the body-centered tetragonal (BCT) structure called
martensite.
• The objective of the quenching process is to cool at a sufficient rate to form
martensite.
• The distortion of the BCT structure results in high strength and hardness of
the quenched steel.
• Martensite does not form until it reaches the martensite start temperature
(Ms) and is complete after it is cooled below the martensite finish
temperature(Mf).
 Quenching
• Many steels are quenched in either water or oil to produce adequate cooling
rates.
• The addition of alloying elements increases the hardenability of steels by
moving the nose of the isothermal transformation diagram to the right,
allowing slower cooling rates for alloy steels to form martensite.
• However, alloying elements also depress the Ms and Mf temperatures, so
that some highly alloyed steels must be cooled to below room temperature
to obtain fully martensitic structures.
Liquid cooling proceeds through three separate stages during a quenching
operation.

Vapor-blanket cooling describes the first cooling stage, when the quenching
medium is vaporized at the metal surface and cooling is relatively slow.

Vapor-transport cooling starts when the metal has cooled down enough so that
the vapor film is no longer stable and wetting of the metal surface occurs. This
is the fastest stage of cooling using boiling phenomenon.

Liquid cooling starts when the surface temperature of the metal reaches the
boiling point of the liquid so that vapor is no longer formed. This is the slowest
stage of cooling which happens through convection mechanism.
 Tempered Martensite
• The ductility and toughness of martensite may be enhanced and these
internal stresses relieved by a heat treatment known as tempering.
• Tempering is accomplished by heating a martensitic steel to a
temperature below the eutectoid for a specified time period.
• Normally, tempering is carried out at temperatures between 250 C and
650 C; internal stresses, however, may be relieved at temperatures as low
as 200 C.
• This tempering heat treatment allows, by diffusional processes, the
formation of tempered martensite, according to the reaction.
Surface Hardening of Steel
 Hardening by martensite transformation
• Martensite – is a supersaturated solid solution of carbon trapped in a body-
centered tetragonal structure. This is a highly distorted structure that results in high
hardness and strength.
• Martensite atoms are less densely packed than austenite atoms, so a volumetric
expansion occurs during the transformation. As a result, highly localized stresses
produce distortions in the matrix.
• The transformation is diffusionless, and small volumes of austenite suddenly
change crystal structure by shearing actions.
• Martensite transformation cannot be suppressed. Ms is a function of chemical
composition only.
• Martensite is never in a state of equilibrium, although it can persist indefinitely at
or near room temperature. It would eventually decompose into ferrite and
cementite.
 Surface Hardening by Localized Heat Treatment
• These processes require a high enough carbon content to obtain the required
hardness, a medium-carbon steel with a carbon content of 0.35 to 0.50 wt% is
usually selected.
• Initially, the part is hardened by conventional quenching and tempering to
produce the desired core hardness.
• Sometimes, normalizing will produce the desired core hardness.
• The surface is then reheated into the austenitization range and immediately
quenched to produce fresh martensite at the surface.
• The part is then retempered to produce the desired surface hardness.
• The depth of the martensite layer is the case depth.
 Flame hardening
• The objective of flame hardening is to austenitize the steel at and near the
surface by a gas flame created by burning acetylene, propane, or natural
gas.
• And then it is to remove the flame and rapidly quench the work to
produce martensite.
• Flame hardening is a very rapid and efficient method for producing cases
as deep as 6.3 mm.
• It is often used where small quantities of parts require hardening, the part
is large and bulky, or the heat treating facilities are limited.
Flame Hardening