Tempering, Martempering, Austempering, Maraging, etc. Definition An operation or combination of operations involving heating and cooling of a metal/alloy in solid state to obtain desirable conditions (e.g., that of relieved stresses) or properties (e.g., better machinability, improved ductility, homogeneous structure) Heat treatment is a stage in fabrication of structures Purpose of heat treatment Cause relief of internal stresses developed during cold working, welding, casting, forging, etc. Harden and strengthen metals Improve machinability Change grain size Soften metals for further working as in wire drawing or cold working Improve ductility and toughness Increase heat, wear and corrosion resistance of materials Improve electrical and magnetic properties Homogenize the structure to remove coring or segregation Classification Various heat treatment processes may be defined as 1. Annealing a. Stress-relief annealing b. Process annealing c. Spheroidising annealing d. Full annealing 2. Normalising 3. Hardening 4. Tempering 5. Martempering 6. Austempering 7. Maraging Fundamental principles of Heat treatment Steel heat treatments are made possible by eutectoid reaction in iron carbon system All basic heat treatment processes for steel involve the transformation or decomposition of austenite Based on the principle that an alloy experiences change in structure when heated above a certain temperature and it undergoes again change in structure when cooled to room temperature Cooling rate is important factor, slow cooling rate above critical range in steel produces pearlite whereas rapid cooling will give rise to martensite Steps of heat treatment Heating a metal/alloy to definite temperature Holding at that temperature for a sufficient period to allow necessary changes (austenisation) to occur Cooling at a rate necessary to obtain desired properties associated with changes in the nature from size and distribution of micro-constituents Annealing Purpose, concept, types, etc. Definition Process of heating a metal which is in a metastable or distorted structural state, to a temperature which will remove the instability or distortion and then cooling (usually at a slow rate) so that the room temperature structure is stable and strain free purpose Inducing a completely stable structure Refining and homogenizing the structure Reducing hardness Improving machinability Removing residual stresses Removing gases concept When applied to ferrous alloys, the term annealing generally implies full annealing Any annnealing process reduces stress, but if the treatment is applied solely to reduce stress than its designated as stress relieving (a) STRESS RELIEVING Stress relief annealing relieves stresses produced by casting, quenching, machining, cold working, welding, etc. Applies equally to ferrous and non-ferrous metals Stress relief is often desirable when a casting is liable to change dimensions to a harmful degree during machining or use Stresses if not relieved might later cause warpage or even failure of the casting Thermal stress relieving requires heating the casting to a temperature at which relaxation of the elastic stress is brought about by plastic deformation Does not affect metallurgical structure of the casting The temperature range required for stress relief varies form 0.3 MP to 0.4 MP (MP- melting point) (b) PROCESS ANNEALING Usually subcritical (below the lower critical temperature: A1) annealing Applied to remove the effects of cold work to soften and permit further cold work as in sheet and wire industries Done between processing operations thats why the name process annealing Ferrous alloys are heated to a temperature close to but below lower limit of transformation range (550-650C) Partial recrystallisation of the distorted ferrite and since mild steel contains only a small volume of strained pearlite, high degree of softening is induced Does not involve any phase change (c) SPHEROIDISE ANNEALING Involves subjecting steel to a selected temperature cycle, usually within or near the transformation range in order to produce a spheroidal or globular form of carbide in steel Improves machinability Facilitates a subsequent cold working operation Obtains a desirable structure for subsequent heat treatment Soften tool steels and some of the air hardening alloy steels Spheroidising is extensively employed for high carbon (tool) steels to transform lamellar pearlitic cementite into spheroidal type Cementite spheroids are embedded in a matrix of ferrite Spheroidizing condition is produced by one of the following methods: 1) Heating steel and then prolonged holding at a temperature just below lower critical line i. No basic phase change takes place, surface tension causes the cementite part of pearlite to assume a globular form 2) Heating and cooling steel, alternatively between temperatures that are just above and just below lower critical line 3) Heating to a temp above the lower critical line (e.g., between 730-770C) with subsequent holding at this temperature followed by slow cooling (d) FULL ANNEALING Implies annealing a ferrous alloy by austenitising and then cooling slowly through the transformation range Austenitizing temperature for hypoeutectoid steels 723-910C and for hypereutectoid steels is 723-1130C Full annealing thus involves: Heating steel to proper annealing temperature in austenite zone Holding the steel object at that temperature for a definite period of time depending upon its thickness or diameter so that it becomes completely austenitic Cooling very slowly the steel object through the transformation range till the object acquires a low temperature (because of slow cooling, annealing comes close to follow Fe-C diag) Full annealing involves: i. Refines grains ii. Removes strains (from forging and castings) iii. Induces softness iv. Improves machinability v. Improves formability vi. Improves electrical and magnetic properties NORMALIZING Concept Normalizing or air quenching consist in heating steel to about 40-50C above its upper critical temperature (i.e., A3 and Acm line) and if necessary holding it at that temperature for a short time and then cooling in still air at room temperature Differs from full annealing in that rate of cooling is more rapid and no extended soaking period Structure obtained by normalising will depend largely on the thickness of cross section a this will affect the rate of cooling. Thin sections will give much finer grains than thick sections Purpose Produces uniform structure Refines the grain sixe steel May achieve the required strength and ductility in a steel that is too soft and ductile for machining Reduces internal stresses Improves structures in welds Produces harder and stronger steel than full annealing Cooling curves on TTT diagram Cooling Curve-a: Very slow cooling rate, typical of conventional annealing. Transformation product is coarse pearlite with low hardness Cooling Curve-b: Transformation will start at 3 with the formation of coarse pearlite and finish at 4, with the formation of medium pearlite. Curve b involves faster rate of cooling than a and may be considered typical of normalizing Cooling Curve d: typical of an intermediate cooling rate and austenite will start to transform at pt 5 to fine pearlite. As Ms line is crossed, remaining austenite will transform to martensite. Room temp thus consist of combination of these two Cooling Curve e: typical of a drastic quench, substance remains austenite until Ms, and changes to martensite between Ms and Mf Cooling curve ef: it is possible to form 100% pearlite/martensite by continues cooling, but it is not possible to form 100% bainite. Cooling curve ef obtains a bainite structure by cooling rapidly enough to miss the nose of curve and then holding in the temperature range at which bainite is formed until transformation is complete Cooling curve g: is tangent to the nose of TTT curve. Cooling rate is critical cooling rate (CCR). Any rate equal to or faster than CCR will form only martensite and slower than CCR will form some softer transformation products such as pearlite or bainite MARTENSITE SPHEROIDISED ANNEALING NORMALISED STEEL HARDENING (By Quenching) Introduction Increases hardness by quenching Hardening of steel requires the formation of martensite Max % of hardness by quenching is obtained if they contain between 0.35-0.6% C Hardening followed by tempering Hardens steel to resist wear Enables steel to cut other metals Improves strength, toughness and ductility Develops best combination of strength and notch- ductility Procedure Steel with sufficient carbon is heated 30-50C above A3 line and held there for few time and than cooled rapidly or quenched in a suitable medium (brine, water, oil, etc) to produce desired rate of cooling and a suitable hardening steel Degree of hardness depends on Composition of steel Nature and properties of quenching material Quenching temperature Size of objective to be quenched Homogeneity of austenite Degree of agitation Rate of cooling Quenching Medium Is the one into which heated metal objects are plunged in order to withdraw heat from the objects rapidly Quenching medium must provide for a cooling rate above the critical value (such as curves g and e) to prevent austenite decomposition in the pearlite Types of Quenching media (in the decreasing order of severity) 5 to 10% caustic soda (very drastic quench) 5 to 20% Brine (NaCl) Cold water Warm water Mineral oil Animal oil Vegetable oil Air (least drastic) Stages of Quenching Stage -1: Vapour-blanket cooling stage At this stage the temperature of metal is high Because of high temperature, quenching medium is vaporized at surface of the metal and a thin stable film of vapour surrounds the hot metal Job is cooled by conduction and radiation through the gaseous Stage -2: Vapour-transport cooling stage: This stage starts when the metal has cooled to a temperature at which the vapour film is no longer stable Vapour blanket is broken intermittently, alloying liquid to touch the hot metal at one instant but soon being pushed away from it by vapour bubbles Since hot metal surface is wetted by quenching liquid, violent boiling occurs Very rapid cooling takes place in this stage that soon brings the metal surface temperature below the boiling point if liquid Stage -3: liquid cooling stage Third stage begins when the metal surface temperature just reaches the boiling point of the quenching liquid Cooling takes place by simple convection and conduction Rate of cooling decreases as the temperature of metal falls Rate of cooling is slowest in this stage