Universidad de la Sabana

Facultad de ingeniería
Science of materials & Nanomaterials

Final report
Hardness and tensile steel test with annealing and tempering process
Luisa Fernanda Malaver Leal - 0000152243
Catalina Suárez Londoño- 0000124353
Sergio Buitrago - 0000154599
Nicolas Pedroza - 0000152059
November 20 2018

I. Introduction

To meet the main objectives of this laboratory, we must first define Hardness and Tensile. First,
Hardness is a characteristic of a material, not a fundamental physical property. It is defined as the
resistance to indentation, and it is determined by measuring the permanent depth of the indentation. [3]
Already knowing this definition, we had to in the laboratory apply the Hardness test, this test More
simply put, when using a fixed force (load) and a given indenter, the smaller the indentation, the harder
the material. Indentation hardness value is obtained by measuring the depth or the area of the indentation
using one of over 12 different test methods. [3]. To be able to correctly apply the test we must have
different materials, to apply the test, in this report you will find, the theoretical values and the
experimental values found in the test, made by the teacher, on the other hand the following materials
were needed, first the most important of all, was the team that performed the test, for this, the materials
used should have some special features, in which we found,”The type of material and expected hardness
will determine test method. Materials such as hardened bearing steels have small grain size and can be
measured using the Rockwell scale due to the use of diamond indenters and high PSI loading. Materials such
as cast irons and powder metals will need a much larger indenter such as used with Brinell scales. Very small
parts or small sections may need to be measured on a microhardness tester using the Vickers or Knoop
Scale.” (2018, METEK).

By the other hand, tensile properties indicate how the material will react to forces being applied in
tension. A tensile test is a fundamental mechanical test where a carefully prepared specimen is loaded
in a very controlled manner while measuring the applied load and the elongation of the specimen over
some distance. (NDT, “Tensile properties”,S.F). By this previous definition, is that in this laboratory,
we had to analyze the traction properties of two different polymers, and a metal, in our case we had
Bakelite and Teflon as polymers and as metal the Steel. To achieve the main objective of the practice ,
we had a rod of diameter and of known length, which with the right machine and computer, we obtained
the graphic stress vs. strain. We can find different tensile specimens:
In ductile materials, at some point, the stress-strain curve deviates from the straight-line relationship
and Law no longer applies as the strain increases faster than the stress. From this point on in the tensile
test, some permanent deformation occurs in the specimen and the material is said to react plastically to
any further increase in load or stress. The material will not return to its original, unstressed condition
when the load is removed. In brittle materials, little or no plastic deformation occurs and the material
fractures near the end of the linear-elastic portion of the curve. (NDT, “Tensile properties”,S.F).

Elastic Deformation. When a sufficient load is applied to a metal or other structural material, it will
cause the material to change shape. This change in shape is called deformation. A temporary shape
change that is self-reversing after the force is removed, so that the object returns to its original shape,
is called elastic deformation. In other words, elastic deformation is a change in shape of a material at
low stress that is recoverable after the stress is removed. This type of deformation involves stretching
of the bonds, but the atoms do not slip past each other. (NDT. “Elastic/plastic deformation”, S.F)

Also it is important to know in what consist the tempering and annealing process because in this two
specific process is in which we are going to do our comparison. By one part, the tempering process
refers to a heat treatment used to soften the material and to increase its toughness. By the other hand,
annealing is a heat treatment used to eliminate part or all of the effects of cold working.

The purpose of this report is to compare the data between the hardness and the tensile properties in the
pieces of steel already used previously that were put for the accomplishment of the respective processes
of annealing and tempering. In this method it was used the machine that was provided by the fablab in
the Sabana University to size both properties in each piece and it was obtained the respective data to
proceed to graph them and make the correspond comparison.

II. Results and analysis

Annealing
- Tensile
 Figure 1. Annealed Steel Tensile Plot.
As for maximum stress in the annealed sample, it was at 901.405 MPa and 44.649 in the strain relation.
For the breaking point it is around 760 MPa.

- Hardness

Figure 3. Phase diagram of steel

As is to be known that the hardness measures the resistance to penetration of the surface of a
material by a hard object, with this practice it was recognize it hardness. With the phase diagram
above it is more easy to analyze the changes that the piece of steel presented on hardness after
applying the annealing process. Steel consists of both iron (Fe) and carbon (C) in small
amounts. It has different structures depending on the temperature, pressure, and heating and
cooling rates. In the diagram is shown that as it cool liquid steel to room temperature, it goes
through different phases. The first, austenite, has an FCC cubic structure. At about 750 C,
austenite turns into ferrite, which has a BCC structure.

Now, as this transformation is very rapid, which is the case when producing steel while
quenching, the carbon atoms don’t have time to diffuse out, and therefore they get trapped
within the BCC structure. This causes that the steel become harder and stronger since the
trapped carbon atoms are blocking the movements of iron atoms within the BCC lattice. When
annealed, those carbon atoms are allowed to diffuse out and iron atoms are able to move more
freely, making the material weaker and more prone to deformation.

Tempering
 - Tensile

Figure 2. Tempered Steel Tensile Plot.

As for maximum stress in the tempered sample it was at 895.162 MPa and 47.613 in the strain relation.
It broke around 750 MPa.

- Hardness
With tempering process we reheat the steel at a relatively low temperature leading to precipitation and
spheroidization of the carbides present in the microstructure giving the final properties of the steel. The
result is a component with the appropriate combination of hardness, strength and toughness .
After compere de pure sample with tempered steel, we observed the second one improve its toughness
because it retain a tempered martensite and bainite structure and tempering reduces the hardness in the
material.

Normal
- Tensile

Figure 4. Normal Steel Tensile Plot.

The Normal Steel Tensile Plot shows the results of the practice on steel. Based on Figure 3, and
comparing them both it can be seen that steel follows the usual behavior, as it replicates the
zones that are pointed out in the theoretical plot. For example, the nominal stress can be seen
perfectly. When the stress starts decreasing, by the end of the plot it indicates fracture. The
maximum point in Figure 3 is 35.578 for relation of strains and 897.313 MPa for stress. Also,
before fracture a necking was seen. Normal steel broke around 820 MPa. Before necking there
is a state called yielding.

Figure 4. Process of tensile test. Taken from Springer Handbook of Materials Measurement Methods.

Figure 5. Plots for types of yielding. Taken from Springer Handbook of Materials Measurement
Methods.

From Figure 4 and Figure 5 it can be assumed that the steel used applied to one of these types
of yielding. Metals usually show type b of yielding, while annealed steels tend to show the first
behavior. (Wiederhorn, Fields, Low, Bahng, Wehrstedt, & Hah, 2006) Based on Figure 5 and
comparing with Figure 1, it can be said that our steel showed type b. This type of yielding is
called continuous yielding. After it, came the necking. If a material is brittle this necking can’t
be seen, opposite to steel.

Comparing the three samples it can be seen that maximum stress they were all between 895 and
around 900 MPa, being the annealed the one with the higher maximum point. As for the fracture
stress number, the higher one was the normal steel. This makes sense since with tempering and
annealing process the strength decreases and makes it easier to break. This happens because
grains change during these processes and they increase their size.
 - Hardness
Stainless steel hardness is one of the most important characteristics when choosing the material
for a specific application. Of course, stainless steels are well known for their resistance to
corrosion, but these steel can also be considerably strong depending on how they are produced.
The hardness of stainless steel is a property of the surface of the bar worked, since it represents
the resistance of the material to wear, this wear can be scratch issues on the surface of the
material. To test the hardness of stainless steel, it can be done by three different tests or methods,
which are Vickers, Brinell and Rockwell. For our case, and by the data handled, the Rockwell
test is used to identify the hardness of the material, and if it is, it can be easily compared with
the hardness results reported in the literature, for this we have to look at the data thrown by The
machine, specifically the tensile strength, which is found by dividing the load over the area of
the bar worked, for this case, we find a maximum point in the tensile strength of 897.31.

Table taken from: https://www.shimfer.com/stainless-steel-hardness/

In the previous table you can see the range where the tensile strength is, you can see that in the
Rockwell number it is between the range of 27.1 and 27.8, this means the permanent depth of
the indentation produced by a force / load in an indentation. In the points mentioned above,
were the points where commercial steel withstands the maximum possible load, so it can be
concluded that this material is hardness.

III. Conclusions

● Behaviour during the tensile tests was logical and coherent with theory about steel after going
through processes like annealing and tempering.
● Tensile test and hardness test were important to differentiate the effect of annealing and
tempering in steel and its properties.
● The behavior of the metal material was analyzed when subjected to a uniaxial tension force. In
our case, the metal that was used was the steel and it has a representative type of yielding that
is called continuous yielding.
● It was observed and recognized the differences that have different materials in terms of its
ductility and fragility (in terms of tolerance to deformation).
 ● It was determined that the evaluation of the test is carried out from the stress-strain curves, that
the most important parameters are the stresses (in N / mm2 or in MPa), modulus of elasticity
and deformation or elongation (in %).
● The Rockwell test can be used to measure and analyze the hardness of the vast majority of
metals, in this is the maximum load and the minimum load that would resist the material, in our
case it was analyzed for steel trades.
● The area and the length of the bar worked, are indispensable elements in the analysis of the
sample, since this is what allows us to graph the steel tensile.
● Also it was determined that the behavior or property of a certain material can, in most cases, be
explained by looking at its structure.
IV. References
- Wiederhorn, S., Fields, R., Low, S., Bahng, G.-W., Wehrstedt, A., & Hah, J. (2006).
Mechanical Properties. En H. Czichos, T. Saito, & L. Smith, Springer Handbook of
Materials Measurement Methods (págs. 283-397).
- NDT. (S.F). Strain and stress. 03-10-18, de NDT Sitio web: https://www.nde-
ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/Materials/Mechanical/StressStrain.ht
m

V. Biographies

Luisa Fernanda Malaver

She was born on February 5, 1999 and raised in Bogota,Colombia. Luisa

is graduate of Celestin Freinet School, where she received a specialization
in Graphic Design .At seventeen, she started studying Chemical
engineering at the University of La Sabana, Chia. Currently, Luisa is in
5th semester taking part of the investigation group “Alche” and is
working as a tutor in the PTB Program “ Programa de Tutores para
Becarios” , in fact she is part of leaders group in this program.

Nicolás Pedroza,

is a chemical engineer student. Actually he course 5th semester at Sabana

University. He is twenty years old, he was born at Bogotá, Colombia on
December 3th of 1997. He studied at Abraham Lincoln School in 2015.
Then he starts at Javeriana University but then he travels to study in
Buenos Aires, Argentina. He likes very much what he is doing and
nowadays he is part of the investigation group in Bioprospecting at the
Sabana university and he wants to do an excellent work there. Nicolás has experienced work in
and outside Bogotá. In summer vacations he likes to take advantage and went to United States
where he have the possibility to work at a Ford car dealership. Last vacations he has the
experience to afront many goals that make him think about life differently and to have an
unforgettable experience.
 Catalina Suarez,

is nineteen years old, she was born at Madrid, Spain and at the year 2007
she moves to Bogotá. She studied at Pepa Castro school and now she is a
chemical engineering student that course fifth semester. She likes very
much all themes that have a relation with laboratories experiments and she
wants to help environmental problems that suffers nowadays the world.
Catalina has some experienced working as staff and logistic girl at many
events in Bogotá. This made her adopt a very responsible life and likes
very much to have always something to do.

Sergio Buitrago,

actually is a chemistry student. He enters at Sabana University in the second

term of 2015. He graduated of the Agustiniano school. He was born the 15th
of september of 1998. He likes very much his career but also one of his
passions is playing soccer. Nowadays he is part of the team of the university.
Also at vacations, Sergio varied his daily routine. He has some experience
working half-time at restaurants and also he helped in his father's company.