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Lab Notes
List the phases in steel (austenite, ferrite, pearlite, cementite, and martensite), what
temperatures they are stable at, and their mechanical properties.
Describe the influence of tempering, annealing, and quenching on the mechanical
properties of steel.
Identify ductile and brittle fractures.
Use standard heat treating equipment and methods.
Operate the notch-impact testing machine.
Demonstrate the relationship between heat treatment and mechanical properties.
2.0 Resources
[1].
Callister, Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction 8th edition, (John Wiley
and Sons, New York, 2009), Ch 9.18-9.20, 10.1-10.9.
[2] Industrial Heating articles on Martensite and Retained Austenite
http://www.buehler.com/application_support/MartensiteRetainedAusteniteIHApril2009.pdf
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MatE 25
Lab Notes
In Florida a new ride called The Big Twist went into service in early spring of 2010. After
about eight weeks of operation, the warming weather and school spring break brought a line of
eager riders resulting in full carloads of riders and full capacity operation of the ride. The Big
Twist raises a car with eight riders to the top of a 60 meter tower from which the car runs down a
twisting and looping track for one and a half minutes. This feature giving the ride its name, Big
Twist, involves a fast descent in a tightly curled helical section of the track involving six
complete circles of 360 degrees each in a path having a diameter of about 7 meters.
On the day of the equipment failure, at about 2:15 p.m. one of the cars separated from the track
about midway down the twist. The car and eight occupants fell to the ground about 30 meters
below. Two of the occupants were killed immediately, two died later at the hospital and the other
four suffered a range of non-fatal injuries, some of which will result in permanent disabilities.
Florida officials immediate shut down the ride and began an investigation to determine the cause
of the car separating from the track. Investigators determined that the sharp descent in the helical
twist would place high side loads on the wheel mechanisms in addition to the normal vertical
loads. Even with the impact damage from the 30+ meter fall, it was determined that the outside
track wheel assembly was inclined at more than 30 degrees from its normal vertical orientation.
This was due to bending of the support bracket rail that connected the wheels to the underside of
the car.
When the Director of Safety for Cal-OSHA received report of the Florida amusement park
accident, she quickly determined that three such rides of similar design had been installed in
California during the winter and all three had been inspected and certified to start operation
within the past three weeks. She immediately issued an order shutting down those three rides.
She ordered another inspection, and ordered the rides closed until there was a determination of a
cause for the equipment failure. Of the three California locations, two were in southern
California and one in the San Jose area. Teams of inspectors were dispatched to each of the sites
with instructions to inspect the cars and all associated equipment. Particular attention was to be
given to the condition of the wheel assemblies and support rails. Within 12 hours the reports
came back from southern California that the inspectors found no problems. However, the team in
northern California reported wheel assemblies tilting 10-15 degrees from the normal orientation
and bending of the support rails on the left side on 3 out of 24 cars at the site.
The park management at the two southern California parks requested lifting of the order shutting
down their rides. They tell the Director of Safety that since the inspection team found no
problems, they should be allowed to resume operations. The Director refuses to lift the stop
order. She still wants to find the root cause of the Florida crash, and her concern escalates when
she receives the report of the problem found on the northern California ride. However, she
mentions in a staff meeting that the pressure to lift the order will intensify as the weekend
approaches and the parks anticipate capacity crowds.
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MatE 25
Lab Notes
As a materials engineer, you are asked to determine why the Florida roller coaster failed, and if
the other coasters are at risk. As part of your investigation, you study how the microstructure and
hardness of steel changes with thermal processing. As a first step, you obtain reference samples
of 4140 steel. You austenize, quench, and temper a series of these samples to gain an
understanding of how the microstructure, hardness, and notch-impact toughness change as a
function of quench and tempering temperature. You then need to apply that knowledge to a bent
rail sample to determine if the hardness, toughness, and microstructure match what should be
expected.
5.2 Investigation To Find the Facts
To start in the investigation, you arrange a conference call with representatives of the company
that designed and manufactured the ride. During the call you make notes about the material
details mentioned by the designers. From your notes you plan the tests to be performed once the
suspect rail is received.
1. The designer says that this ride is a new model based on a previous design in use for
several years. The previous model is smaller. It makes loops and turns but less sustained
twisting motion, such as the helical drop that is a new feature introduced for this ride.
2. The designer identified that the wheel assembly could disengage from the track if the rail
bends enough to allow the wheel shaft to tilt more than 15 degrees from its normal
horizontal direction.
3. Calculations made during design, indicate this new ride will generate higher side loading
of the wheel assembly and rail. Because of the higher expected loads a stronger wheel
assembly rail was needed.
4. To handle the higher loads, it was decided to make the rail out of a higher strength
material, keeping the dimensions the same as for the older car design. This avoided a
redesign of other portions of the car.
5. In the previous car design, the rails were made of low carbon steel with commercial
designation of 1018 steel. The material specification called for the finished rail to have a
Rockwell B-scale hardness of HRB 75-85 (which is roughly equal to HRC 2-3).
6. For the new ride design, the design team specified a change to a medium carbon steel
(4140), which gives the material higher strength than the previously used 1018 steel if
processed correctly.
7. This company has now built more than a hundred cars using this design. Manufacturing
the new wheel assembly and rail was complex. After machining to dimensions, rails were
sent out to another shop in batches to be heat-treated. The process involved heating to
844oC for 1 hour followed by water quench, then post-quench tempering for 1 hour at
480oC. Parts were then cleaned of surface scale by grit blasting. The material
specification called for a final Rockwell C-scale hardness of HRc 35-40.
8. The designer and his supervisor say they have rechecked the loading calculations, and
both say the wheels and rail should be safe under the maximum expected loads plus
design margin, provided the rail material is at least 0.40 wt% carbon and the rail received
the specified heat treatment.
9. Your investigation team finds that the first car manufactured with the new design has a
complete record of all the testing done on the materials and components that go into
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MatE 25
Lab Notes
making the car, and everything passed. After that, all the subsequent cars do not have
records of material tests during manufacturing.
10. You participate in an investigation team traveling to Florida, and obtain a small specimen
of the bent rail from the crashed car, and bring it back to your lab in California. The CalOSHA machine shop makes that specimen into a notch-impact toughness Charpy test
sample. You perform hardness tests, and a Charpy test on this sample. You then cut and
polish a section for microscope examination, and take photographs of the microstructure
to document your investigation. A small portion of the retrieved bent rail specimen was
sent to a chemical analysis lab to determine the element content of the steel.
From the data you gather from the reference samples, and the data from the retrieved bent rail
specimen, you are able to piece together the problem. Your data eliminates all other potential
causes, and you are able to determine conclusively the root cause of the. Further, you are able to
recommend additional testing to determine which of the roller coaster cars, if any, should be
allowed to return to operation.
Most importantly, now you need to document your results and send the report to the Director for
her review. She is under pressure to issue a ruling on operational status for the amusement parks,
and needs these results immediately. Also, almost certainly other safety organizations, and
litigation teams will question her ruling. The report must be of high quality and have technical
accuracy.
Introduce your purpose for writing by reminding Irene what you did and why.
Summarize your research and findings.
Explain the significance of the results by stating what caused the failure.
Give a recommendation as to whether the rides can safely be put back in operation. If not,
state what should be tested first to determine if the cars are safe.
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Lab Notes
Introduction
State why you did the research
Briefly explain relevant materials engineering concepts:
o Amount of carbon in 4140 steel compared to 1018 steel and what effect that has
on strength
o Phases of steel at various temperatures, as shown on the phase diagram, and how
that effects the amount of carbon that can be held interstitially
o The austenite to martensite transition, including the importance of fast quench
o The process of converting martensite to tempered martensite, and the effects on
strength, hardness, and toughness.
6.4.4
6.4.5
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6.5
Lab Notes
Grading Rubric
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Scoring
Attribute
Writing Mechanics
Assignment Instructions
and Requirements
1
Unacceptable
2.5
2
Marginal
Lab Notes
3
Proficient
3.5
4
Excellent
Wt
1
Some assignment
instructions followed
Most assignment
instructions followed
Consistently inadequate
grammar, mechanics and/or
spelling;
Errors impair meaning
Formulas
Writing Quality
Writing Quality
Originality
Scoring
Attribute
Rev. 4.0
Overall organization is
coherent;
Language and sentence
structure is sophisticated;
Report is easy to read and
understand
Author restates or paraphrases ideas from other sources;
Writing is original, shows
Writing does not clearly demonstrate authors
clarity, and demonstrates
understanding
depth of understanding
1.5
2.5
3
3.5
4
2
Proficient
Excellent
Marginal
Organization of some sections is coherent;
Language and sentence structure is average;
Report requires some effort to understand
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Technical Quality
Mastery of Theoretical
and Technical Concepts
Lab Notes
Wt
3
Comprehension of subject
matter is clearly
demonstrated
Methods
Experimental methods
described using specific
terms and procedures, but
general method is unclear
Experimental methods
described and explained;
Appropriate technical
language and level of detail
is used
Figure(s) of Experimental
Set-up
No figure of experiment
set-up
Generic figure of
experimental setup, but
relevant details omitted
Detailed figure of
experimental setup;
Figure not related to text
Data,
Presentation, and
Calculation of Results
Partial or incomplete
results of the work
Discussion of Results
Conclusions
No summary given
References
Note that any plagiarism will result in a 0 on the entire report. If you are unclear on what constitutes plagiarism, consult our instructor.
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Abrasive paper
Procedures
1. Check to see that furnaces are at proper temperatures. The austenitizing furnace
temperature should be at set 844C. Place 6 specimens in the furnace for one hour.
2. Remove 5 specimens from the austenitizing furnace and immediately quench in water.
Remove one specimen and allow to air cool.
3. Set tempering furnaces at 205C, 370C, 482C, and 677C. Place a quenched specimen
in each furnace for one hour. One quenched specimen does not get tempered, but is left as
full martensite.
4. Remove tempered specimens from furnaces and allow cooling. Remove surface scale on
two parallel longitudinal faces that do not have the notch.
5. Measure Hardness Rockwell C Scale (4 places each specimen) on each of the four temper
treatment specimens, the one air-cooled specimen, and the one as-quenched full
martensite specimen. Test hardness on one face only.
6. Perform Charpy Impact Tests for each of the six specimens. For operation of the Charpy
Impact Tester follow these steps:
o Lift pendulum to safety catch.
o Put specimen in place with notch away from pendulum.
o Lift pendulum to uppermost position.
o Manually move pointer to far left reference mark on the scale.
o Release hammer and take reading on scale.
7. Note the appearance of the fracture surfaces, and if available take pictures.
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Lab Notes
HRC#1
HRC#2
HRC#3
HRC#4
Avg.
RC
Impact
Energy (J)
Type of
Fracture
1. What process will result in a Ferrite plus Pearlite microstructure? List the reasons why this
structure will have low strength.
2. What process will result in a Martensite microstructure? List the reasons why this structure
will have high strength.
3. What is happening to the microstructure during the temper process?
4. For 4140 Steel, how many iron atoms per carbon atom are there? Show work neatly on back.
5. What are your sources of error?
6. Did you calibrate the HRC? Did you calibrate the Charpy?
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