CASE STUDY OF HARDENING

TABLES OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION OF HARDENING
THEORY BEHIND HARDENING
HOW DOES HARDENING TAKE PLACE
PROPERTIES
HARDENABLE STEELS
HARDENING PROCESSES
TYPES OF HARDNESS MEASUREMENT
TYPES OF HARDNESS TEST
- BRINELL HARDNESS
- VICKERS HARDNESS
- ROCKWELL HARDNESS
9) CONCLUSION
10) REFERENCE
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)

INTRODUCTION

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Hardening is heating and then cooling at such a rate of steel alloys so that a significant
increase in hardness occurs. In most cases, hardening is performed in connection with a
subsequent new heating, the tempering. If, after hardening at a high temperature, tempering is
performed and then a relatively low hardness combined with high toughness is achieved, this
process is called hardening and tempering.
THE THEORY BEHIND HARDENING.

Steel has in an unhardened state a body centered cubic (BCC) structure, in which it can only
dissolve very little carbon. After warming up over approx. 720 C austenite is originated that
has a body face centered (BFC) crystal structure (and occupies a smaller volume). It can
dissolve considerably more carbon, which occurs at hardening temperature. By cooling the
material then rapidly enough, converting it from a cubic face centered crystal structure back
into a cubic spatially centered structure, oversatured carbon remain and martensite is
originated. Due to the presence of supersaturated carbon, the BCC (body centered cubic)
lattice is stretched out to a tetragonal lattice. The martensite thus possesses high internal
stresses and a larger volume than non-hardened steel at room temperature. As a consequence,
the high internal stresses have a high hardness of the material. Upon tempering, a little carbon
will be diffused from the tetragonal cube. Consequently stress and volume, but also hardness
decrease and the toughness increases significantly.
HOW DOES HARDENING TAKE PLACE.

The hardening process of workpieces can be divided into three technical steps. First, the
workpiece is heated so that the output structure transforms into an austenitic structure. This
austenitizing temperature depends on the material used (750 C 1210 C). Then the
workpiece is maintained at this temperature so that alloying elements can be incorporated
homogenously in this austenitic structure. The final step is quenching the workpiece at such a
cooling rate that a so-called martensitic structure is originated. The heating and temperature
maintenance should be performed in a protective atmosphere to protect the material from
oxidation and decarburization. Cooling can be performed in different media. The most
common are: water, saline water, hardening oils, polymers, salt bath, nitrogen or argon. After
hardening steel has a relatively high brittleness and so it usually cannot be case-hardened in
this condition. Therefore, directly after hardening it must be tempered at least once, however,
more times is better. Tempering is an annealing treatment at lower temperatures, when the
largest internal stresses that arose during the hardening, decrease. This decreases the hardness
in most cases, but on the other hand, the toughness increases significantly.

Properties
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Higher wear-resistance
Higher hardness
Improved resistance to deflection
Improved resistance to fraction/tearing
Improved resistance to chipping
Improved ductility

HARDENABLE STEELS
Hardenable steels contain at least 0.3% carbon. Examples of steels that can be hardened are:
spring band steel, cold work steel, high-grade steel, roller bearing steel, hot work steel and
tool steel. A large number of high-alloy, stainless steels and alloys of cast iron can be
hardened.

HARDENING PROCESSES
The Heat & Surface Treatment and hardening process applied by Mamesta are hardening
under protective gas and vacuum hardening. Hardening under protective gas is hardening of a
workpiece in an inert gas atmosphere. This process serves to protect the surface of the
component against oxidation as well as against decarbonizing and carbonizing. By an
adjustable carbon potential of the protective gas atmosphere, decarbonizing and carbonizing
can be undone. Vacuum hardening is the hardening of components in a vacuum atmosphere
(in a controlled vacuum) in which temperatures up to 1300 C can be achieved. Purpose of
this treatment is to prevent any oxidation or to avoid other reactions on the surface of the
workpiece. The advantage of vacuum hardening is that metals remain white and a further
mechanical treatment is usually unnecessary. Also isothermal hardening, a special hardening
technique is applied by Heat & Surface Treatment and Mamesta.

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THREE GENERAL TYPES OF HARDNESS MEASUREMENT.

1) Scratch hardness
The ability of material to scratch on one another
Important to mineralogists, using Mohsscale 1= talc, 10 = diamond
Not suited for metal annealed copper = 3, martensite = 7
2) Indentation hardness
Major important engineering interest for metals.
Different types : Brinell, Meyer, Vickers, Rockwell hardness tests.
The ability of material to scratch on one another
Important to mineralogists, using Mohsscale 1= talc, 10 = diamond
Not suited for metal annealed copper = 3, martensite = 7
3) Rebound or dynamic hardness
. The indentor is dropped onto the metal surface and the hardness is expressed as the energy
of impact.

TYPES OF HARDNESS TEST

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Hardness tests can be used for many engineering applications to achieve the basic
requirement of mechanical property.
For examples :
surface treatments where surface hardness has been much improved.
Powder metallurgy
Fabricated parts: forgings, rolled plates, extrusions, machined parts.

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BRINELL HARDNESS
J.A. Brinell introduced the first standardised
indentation-hardness test in 1900. The Brinell
hardness test consists in indenting the metal
surface with a 10-mm diameter steel ball at a load
range of 500-3000 kg, depending of hardness of
particular materials.
The load is applied for a standard time (~30 s),
and the diameter of the indentation is measured.
giving an average value of two readings of the
diameter of the indentation at right angle.
The Brinell hardness number (BHN or HB ) is
expressed as the load P divided by surface area of
the indentation.

Where P is applied load, kg

D is diameter of ball, mm
d is diameter of indentation, mm
t is depth of the impression, mm
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF BRINELL HARDNESS TEST
Large indentation averages out local heterogeneities of microstructure.
Different loads are used to cover a wide rage of hardness of commercial metals.
Brinell hardness test is less influenced by surface scratches and roughness than other
hardness tests.
The test has limitations on small specimens or in critically stressed parts where indentation
could be a possible site of failure.

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VICKERS HARDNESS
Vickers hardness test uses a square-base diamond
pyramid as the indenter with the included angle
between opposite faces of the pyramid of 136o.
The Vickers hardness number (VHN) is defined as
the load dividedby the surface area of the
indentation.

Where P is the applied load, kg

L is the average length of diagonals, mm
is the angle between opposite faces of diamond = 136o.

Vickers hardness test uses the loads ranging from 1-120

kgf, applied for between 10 and 15
seconds.
Provide a fairly wide acceptance for research work
because it provides a continuous scale of hardness, for a
given load.
VHN = 5-1,500 can be obtained at the same load level
(easy for comparison).

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IMPRESSIONS MADE BY VICKERS HARDNESS

A perfect square indentation (a) made with a perfect diamond pyramid indenter would be a
square.
The pincushion indentation (b) is the result of sinking in of the metal around the flat faces of
the pyramid. This gives an overestimate of the diagonal length (observed in annealed metals).
The barrel-shaped indentation (c) is found in cold-worked metals, resulting from ridging or
piling up of the metal around the faces of the indenter. Produce a low value of contact area
giving too high value.

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ROCKWELL HARDNESS
The most widely used hardness test in the US and
generally accepted due to:
1) Its speed
2) Freedom from personal error.
3) Ability to distinguish small hardness difference
4) Small size of indentation.

The hardness is measured

according to the depth of
indentation, under a constant load.

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PRINCIPAL OF THE ROCKWELL

TEST
Position the surface area to be measured
close to the indenter.
Applied the minor load and a zero
reference position is established
The major load is applied for a specified
time period (dwell time) beyond zero
The major load is released leaving the
minor load applied.

The Rockwell number represents the difference in depth from the zero reference
position as a result of the applied major load.

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ROCKWELL HARDNESS INSTRUCTION

Cleaned and well seated indenter and anvil.
Surface which is clean and dry, smooth and free from oxide.
Flat surface, which is perpendicular to the indenter.
Cylindrical surface gives low readings, depending on the
curvature.
Thickness should be 10 times higher that the depth of the
indenter.
The spacing between the indentations should be 3 or 5 times the
diameter of the indentation.
Loading speed should be standardised.

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REFERENCE
1) Dieter, G.E., Mechanical metallurgy, 1988, SI metric edition, McGraw-Hill, ISBN 007-100406-8.
2) Walkerm P.M.B., Materials science and technology dictionary, 1999, Chambers
Harrap Publisher, ISBN 0 550 13249 x.

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