Heat Treatment

It is carried out for specific industrial purpose- To relieve internal stress, Improve machinability, Desired hardness,
desired change in microstructure for better mechanical properties.

ANNEALING

● Heating of steel to Austenizing Temperature. It results in formation of ferrite, spheroidal element & Coarse Pearlite.
● To relieve internal stress, Improve machinability, refine grain size(Uniform structure) & increase ductility. 
●  Full- Hypoeutectoid- 50'C above UCT.  Hypereuctectoid- 50'C above LCT. CR- 30'C-200'C per hour.
● Process- To remove defect from cold working. LCS heated to re-crystallization temp. and cool slowly.
● Spheroidize- M & High CS. Sample heated close to LCT.
● Diffusion-At 1000-1200'C. Homogenizing composition. 

NORMALIZING-

● Steel heated to 50'C above austenite stabilization temp(greater then annealing). AIR Cooling.
● Increases Impact strength. Less ductile then annealed.  Hard surface(Fine) & Tough Core(coarse)
● Mechanical properties better then anneal. (Grain refinement).
● Steel Normalize- YP & UTS increase but ductility decreases.

HARDENING- 

● Heating of steel to Austenizing Temperature(stable). Cooled greater then CR rate. Objective- Martensite
● After hardening steel must be tempered to reduce brittleness, relieve internal stress. Boron Increase hardness.
● Oil bath for steel alloy. Quenching- Brine>Water+NaOH>Water>Oil>Forced Air>Still Air.

TEMPERING-

● Final operation of heat treatment. Heating hardened steel to temperature below LCT & Cool slowly.
● Toughness, Ductility improves.
● High Temp. Tempering- Sorbite (500'C-650'C). Medium Temp. Tempering- Troosite(350-500'C).
● After tempering work is cool in water to increase its endurance limit & elastic limit.

Case Hardening- Hard surface are produced. Good wear resistance. Mild steel hardened by this since they cant be
quench.

CARBURIZING-

● Apply on LCS( Low carbon steel 0.18%). C diffusion on surface.

● Pack- 950'C, Charcoal 50%+BaCO3.  Liquid- Dilute NaCN(950'C) [BEST].  Gas- 950'C, Ch4.

NITRIDING-

Nitrogen content on surface is Increases. NH3(500'C-650'C).Atomic state of N diffuse on surface of steel. Presence of
Alloying element Al,Cu is necessary in order to obtain maxm. hardness mild C steel 3%.
No heat treatment require after this & Case produce is brittle And costly.

CYANIDING-
Molten salt bath NaCN(820-860'C). Atomic C diffuse. 
Bath is toxic.

Hardness- Nitriding > Cynaiding > Carburizing 

INDUCTION HARDENING-

Structure of core remain unchanged. MF induce eddy current. Current density not uniform. Used for hardening surface
of small component. Depth of hardness easily controlled. Both external/internal surface hardened. ex- Cast steel
crankshaft.

FLAME HARDENING-

Fuel caused by Flame may be- Oxyacetylene, kerosene etc. Core is not affected. 2-4mm and surface is Martensite.

POINTS TO PONDER- 

● Tempering process of Annealing- martensite at low temp.

● Factor Responsible for TTT Curve- 1) Driving force- G is (+)= final phase is stable. 2) Atomic Mobility (Diffusion).
● Austempering- To produce Bainite, sample has to Quenched below the nose & kept above Ms(220'C). Ductility,
strength & Toughness increase.
● Martempering or Stepped tempering-  Article-Quench(Water 300-400'C)- kept at low sensitive medium (oil).
Structure produce is Martensite & retained Austenite. It decrease thermal gradient & low possibility of crack.
● Defect in HT- Decarburization, Oxidation, Quenching Crack- CR>CCR, Warping- By non uniform heating.
● Iron Carbon Diagram & TTT Curves are determined under Equilibrium & Non Equilibrium condition respectively.
● Ductility of material with work hardening- Decreases.
● Jominy and quench test- hardenability.
● H= f( Yield strength, Work hardening rate).
● Martensite is super saturated solution of C in Alpha iron.
● Charpy- Toughness, Spiral- Fluidity, Cupping test- Formability, Herbert cloudburst- uniformity of H over surface.

HARDNESS- ( INDENTATION, SCRATCH, REBOUND )

Rockwell- Measure Depth of Indentation. Two type of indenter- 1) 120'C Diamond Cone (Brale). 2) Steel ball(1.6-3.2)
Brinell- 10mm Dia Steel balls. Diameter of indentation measured.
Vickers- Square base Diamond Pyramid (136') opp. face. & Measure surface Area.
Knoop( Very thin crossection)- Micro hardness. Diamond Pyramidal indenter (7:1, long & Short Diagonal length)