IE 21: INDUSTRIAL

MATERIALS AND
PROCESSES
Lecture 4b: Alloys; Heat Treatment
MMT
1st Sem/AY ’07-’08
 Quenching media
 oil:
mild quenching
 water:

cheap
fairly good
vaporizes easily
forms air bubbles causing soft spots
 brine:

more severe than water

may lead to rusting
 hydroxides:

very severe quenching

 Hardenability - the ability of a steel to develop its maximum
hardness when subjected to the normal hardening heating and
quenching cycle. A steel is said to have good hardenability when
it can be fully hardened with relatively slow cooling.
ANNEALING
2) Annealing - used to reduce hardness, alter
toughness, ductility, or other mechanical or
electrical properties
FULL ANNEALING
- Imposes uniform cooling conditions at all locations which
produces identical properties
Steps:
1. Metal is heated.
Hypoeutectoid (<0.77% Carbon): 30-60oC above the A3
line
Hypereutectoid steels (>0.77% Carbon): 30-60oC above
the A3 line
2. Temperature is maintained until the material
transforms to austenite.
3. Cooled at a rate of 10-30oC per hour until it reaches
about 30oC below A1
NORMALIZING
- Cooling is non-uniform,
resulting to non-uniform
properties
Steps:
1. Metal is heated 60oC
above line A1.
2. Held at this temperature
until material transforms
to austenite.
3. Metal is cooled to room
temperature using
natural convection.
PROCESS ANNEAL
-Used to treat low-Carbon Steels (<0.25% Carbon)
-Metal produced is soft enough to enable further cold working
without fracturing
Steps:
1. Temperature is raised
slightly below A1.
2. Held in this
temperature to allow
recrystallization of
the ferrite phase.
3. Cooled in still air at
any rate.
STRESS-RELIEF ANNEAL
- Reduces residual stress in large castings, welded assemblis and
cold-formed parts
Steps:
1. Metals are heated to
temperatures below A1.
2. Temperature is held for an
extended time
3. Material is slowly cooled.
SPHEROIDIZATION
- Produces a structure where the cementite is in
form of small spheroids dispersed throughout
the ferrite matrix
Three ways:
1. prolonged heating at a
temperature below the A1
then slowly cooling the
material
2. cycling between
temperatures slightly
above and below the A1
3. for high-alloy steels,
heating to 750-800oC or
higher and holding it for
several hours
-no significant phase transformations like that of steel
-Three purposes:
1. produce a uniform, homogenous structure
2. provide stress relief
3. bring about recrystallization
- process is usually slowly heating the material to moderate
temperatures, holding it for a certain time to allow change
in desired properties to take place then is slowly cooled
 Stress-relief annealing – reduces tendency for stress-
corrosion cracking
 Tempering – reduce brittleness, increase ductility and

toughness, reduce residual stress

 Austempering – provides high ductility and moderately

high strength
 Martempering – lessens tendency to crack, distort and

develop residual stresses during heat treatment

 Ausforming – ausformed parts have superior

mechanical properties
EXAMPLE
A 200-mm (8-in) round and 75-mm (3-in) long
hot-extrusion die, with a hole of 75 mm, is
made of H21 hot-work steel. A typical
method for heat treating such a die, suitable
for hot extrusion is shown in the following
flow chart:
CASE HARDENING
 this process alters the
surface properties of a
part only, such as
improving resistance to
surface indentation,
fatigue and wear
 Decarburization-
phenomenon where in
alloys containing carbon
lose carbon from their
surfaces as a result of
heat treatment
HEAT TREATMENT FURNACES
 batch furnace
 insulatedchamber
 heating system
 access door
HEAT TREATMENT FURNACES
 continuous furnace
 parts are heat
treated continuously
through the furnace
on conveyors or
various designs that
use trays, belts,
chains and other
mechanisms
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
 Heat treating
 Part design
 Sharp internal or external corners
 Quenching method
 nonuniform cooling
 Thickness, holes, grooves, keyways, splines,
asymmetrical shapes,
 Cracking and warping
 Sources
 E.P. DeGarmo, et. al. Materials and Processes in Manufacturing. 6th
Edition, Macmillan Publishing Company, 1984.
 S. Kalpakjian. Manufacturing Engineering and Technology. 3rd
Edition, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1995.
 http://www.ul.ie/~walshem/fyp/iron%20carbon5.gif
 http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/photos/brasslogo.jpg
 http://www.gvtinc.com/images/Continuous_Temper.JPG
 http://www.thermaldynamix.com/furnacesystems/boxfurnaces/elec
tricallyheatedbox(batch)furnace.jpg,3
 http://www.schumag.de/wm/user_gfx/Ipsen-Kammerofen2.jpg
 http://www.ipmx.com/html/tour/ebner.jpg
 http://www.iwu.fraunhofer.de/schaumzentrum/images/durchlaufofe
n.jpg
 http://www.ukcar.com/features/tech/pictures/turbine_titanium.jpg
 http://www.reidsteel.com/images/reid_images_large/bridges/steel-
gurders.jpg
 http://www.dastuart.com/graphics/metalworking/quenching.jpg
 http://www.padamelectronics.com/gifs/annealing-furnace.jpg
 http://www.mitchel-group.com/images/heattreat.jpg