ME124 Experiment #7:

The ASTM Tensile Test

Lecture 2:
Effects of Heat Treatment on Material
Properties of 4130 Steel
Spring 2003

Lecture 2
Brief review of heat treatment process and TTT diagrams
for 4130 steel
Sample results from previous tensile tests with untreated
and quenched specimens
Interpretation and discuss of results
Effects of tempering

Heat Treatment of Steel

Why? Alter steel microstructure to obtain desired mechanical
properties
Original structure of HR/annealed 4130 is some Fe () and Fe3C
combination
For increased strength/hardness, martensitic microstructure is
desired
Martensite formation requires rapid cooling (quenching)
Critical cooling rate increases with carbon content

Compromise! Increased strength accompanies reduced ductility

and toughness

Impact of Carbon Content

Heat treat-ability varies upon carbon content
Low carbon steels unresponsive to heat treatment; cold-working is most
effective strategy
High carbon steels are difficult to heat treat owing to high quenching rates
required; steels are already strong and hard due to high %C
Medium carbon steels can be heat-treated to improve strength; alloying
elements (Ni, Cr, Mo) alter ITT diagrams, reduce quenching rates

Microstructural Effects of Quenching

quenching

FCC structure

BCC structure

ITT Diagram 4130 Steel

4130 Composition (%wt)
0.33% C
0.90% Cr
0.18% Mo
0.53% Mn

4130 Steel Hardenability (Jominy Test)

Thermal Modeling (Lumped Capacitance)

**length scale derived from Volume/Area for specimen

Thermal Modeling (contd)

Approximate thermal trajectory (h=500 W/mK)

Martensite formation zone

Heat Treatment Process for 4130 Steel

Maintain at 900C
(1652F) for 4+ hours
Austenitization

Rapidly quench the

specimen in a water
bath

The quenched
specimen; note the
presence of scaling on
the surface resulting
from oxidation

Raw Tensile Test Data (4130 steel)**

**Fall 2000, ENGR1 data

Youngs modulus ~unchanged (atomic-level property!)

Raw Tensile Test Data (4130 steel)**

**Spring 2003
ME124 pre-lab test data

Youngs modulus unchanged (atomic-level property!)

Specimen Appearance after Failure

Quenched

Untreated

Impact of Tempering Martensite

Martensite is strong and hard, but brittle

Tempering is a post-processing heat-treatment used to recover some degree
of ductility
Diffusion-based process (carbon atoms) performed at elevated, sub-eutectoid
temperature of ~250-600C
dual-phase: + Fe3C

BCT, 1-phase
Heat + Time
(diffusion)

Fe3C

matrix

Tempering (contd)
Increasing Fe3C particle size reduces boundary area, and
determines amount of ductility recovered
Fe3C particle size determined by diffusion (elapsed time)
Diffusion process can be accelerated by increasing temperature

Tempering of
quenched 1080 steel

Tensile Test Data (Tempered 4130 steel)

Specimen Length Comparison