1

Heat-Treatment
 Heat treatment is a method used to alter the
physical, and sometimes chemical properties of a
material. The most common application is
metallurgical
 It involves the use of heating or chilling, normally to
extreme temperatures, to achieve a desired result
such as hardening or softening of a material
 It applies only to processes where the heating and
cooling are done for the specific purpose of
altering properties intentionally
2
Metal Fabrication
 How do we fabricate metals?
 Blacksmith - hammer (forged)
 Molding - cast

 Forming Operations
 Rough stock formed to final shape

Hot working vs. Cold working

• T high enough for • well below Tm
recrystallization • work hardening
• Larger deformations • smaller deformations

3
Metal Fabrication Methods - I
FORMING CASTING JOINING

• Forging (Hammering; Stamping) • Rolling (Hot or Cold Rolling)

(wrenches, crankshafts) (I-beams, rails, sheet & plate)
force
die roll
Ad
A o blank A d often at Ao
elev. T
roll
Adapted from
force
• Drawing • Extrusion Fig. 11.8,
Callister 7e.
(rods, wire, tubing) (rods, tubing)
Ao
die Ad container
tensile die holder
Ao force
force ram billet extrusion Ad
die
container die
die must be well lubricated & clean ductile metals, e.g. Cu, Al (hot)
4
Metal Fabrication Methods - II
FORMING JOINING
CASTING
• Sand Casting
(large parts, e.g.,
auto engine blocks) Investment Casting
• pattern is made from paraffin.
Sand Sand
• mold made by encasing in
molten metal plaster of paris
• melt the wax & the hollow mold
• Investment Casting is left
(low volume, complex shapes
e.g., jewelry, turbine blades) • pour in metal
plaster
die formed
around wax wax
prototype
5
Metal Fabrication Methods - III
FORMING CASTING JOINING

• Powder Metallurgy • Welding

(materials w/low ductility) (when one large part is
impractical)
pressure filler metal (melted)
base metal (melted)
fused base metal
heat
heat affected zone
area unaffected unaffected
contact piece 1 piece 2
densify
Adapted from Fig.
• Heat affected zone: 11.9, Callister 7e.
(Fig. 11.9 from Iron
point contact densification
by diffusion at
(region in which the Castings
at low T Handbook, C.F.
higher T microstructure has been Walton and T.J.
Opar (Ed.), 1981.)
changed).
6
Heat Treatment

7

Steel Crystal Structures:
HT: ferrite then austentite then martensite
•Ferrite – BCC iron w/
carbon in solid solution
(soft, ductile, magnetic)
•Austenite – FCC iron
with carbon in solid
solution (soft, moderate
strength, non-magnetic)
•Cementite –
Compound of carbon
and iron FE3C (Hard and
brittle)
•Pearlite – alternate
layers of ferrite and
cementite.
•Martensite – iron –
carbon w/ body
centered tetragonal –
result of heat treat and
quench
 Review on
Time-Temperature-Transformation (TTT)Curve
 TTT diagram is a plot of temperature versus the
logarithm of time for a steel alloy of definite
composition.
 It is used to determine when transformations begin
and end for an isothermal heat treatment of a
previously austenitized alloy
 TTT diagram indicates when a specific
transformation starts and ends and it also shows
what percentage of transformation of austenite at a
particular temperature is achieved.

9
 Time-Temperature-Transformation
(TTT)Curve

The TTT diagram for AISI 1080 steel (0.79%C, 0.76%Mn) austenitised at 900°C
10
11
Types of Heat-Treatment (Steel)

 Annealing / Normalizing,
 Case hardening,
 Precipitation hardening,
 Tempering, and Quenching

12
 Designer Alloys:
 Utilize heat treatments to design optimum microstructures and
mechanical properties (strength, ductility, ardness….)
 Strength in steels correlates with how much martensite
remains in the final structure
 Hardenability: The ability of a structure to transform to
martensite
 Martensite
 Has the Strongest microstructure.
 Can be made more ductile by tempering.
 Therefore, the optimum properties of quenched And
tempered steel are realized if a high content of
martensite is produced.
13
Problem:

It is difficult to maintain the same conditions

throughout the entire volume of steel during cooling:
The surface cools more quickly than interior, producing
a range of microstructures throughout.
The martensitic content, and the hardness, will drop
from a high value at the surface to a lower value in the
interior of the specimen.

14
Heat treatment of Steels
 Heat Treatment:-
 Controlled heating and cooling of metals to alter their
physical and mechanical properties without changing
the product shape,

 associated with increasing the strength of material,

 alter certain manufacturability;

 Improve machining,
 improve formability, and
 restore ductility after a cold working operation.

15
Thermal Processing of Metals
Annealing: Heat to Tanneal, then cool slowly.

• Stress Relief: Reduce • Spheroidize (steels):

stress caused by: Make very soft steels for
-plastic deformation good machining. Heat just
-nonuniform cooling below TE & hold for
-phase transform. 15-25 h.

• Full Anneal (steels):

Types of Make soft steels for
good forming by heating
Annealing to get g, then cool in
furnace to get coarse P.
• Process Anneal:
Negate effect of
• Normalize (steels):
cold working by
Deform steel with large
(recovery/
grains, then normalize
recrystallization)
to make grains small.

Based on discussion in Section 11.7, Callister 7e.

16
 Decarburization during Heat
Treatment
 Decrease in content of carbon in metals is called
Decarburization
 It is based on the oxidation at the surface of
carbon that is dissolved in the metal lattice
 In heat treatment processes iron and carbon
usually oxidize simultaneously
 During the oxidation of carbon, gaseous products
(CO and CO2) develop
 In the case of a scale layer, substantial
decarburization is possible only when the gaseous
products can escape
17
Decarburization Effects
 The strength of a steel depends on the
presence of carbides in its structure
 In such a case the wear resistance is obviously
decreased
 In many circumstances, there can be a serious
drop in fatigue resistance
 To avoid the real risk of failure of engineering
components, it is essential to minimize
decarburization at all stages in the processing
of steel

18
 Annealing
 Annealing: a heat treatment in which a
material is exposed to an elevated
temperature for an extended time period and
then slowly/controlled cooled.
 Annealing temperature and the control cooling
rate depend on the alloy composition and the type
of the annealing treatment.
Three stages of annealing

1. Heating to the desired temperature (austenite or

Austenite-Cementite)

2. Holding or “soaking” at that temperature

3. Cooling, usually to room temperature 50 - 20 ºC/hr

19
Types of Annealing
1. Stress-Relief Annealing (or Stress-relieving)
2. Normalizing
3. Isothermal Annealing
4. Spheroidizing Annealing (or Spheroidizing )

20
 1. Stress-Relief Annealing
 It is an annealing process
below the transformation
temperature Ac1, with
subsequent slow cooling, the
aim of which is to reduce the
internal residual stresses in
a workpiece without
intentionally changing its
structure and mechanical
properties

21
Causes of Residual Stresses
1. Thermal factors (e.g., thermal stresses
caused by temperature gradients within the
workpiece during heating or cooling)
2. Mechanical factors (e.g., cold-working)
3. Metallurgical factors (e.g., transformation
of the microstructure)

22
How to Remove Residual Stresses?
 R.S. can be reduced only by a plastic deformation in
the microstructure.
 This requires that the yield strength of the material
be lowered below the value of the residual stresses.
 The more the yield strength is lowered, the greater
the plastic deformation and correspondingly the
greater the possibility or reducing the residual
stresses
 The yield strength and the ultimate tensile strength
of the steel both decrease with increasing
temperature

23
Stress-Relief Annealing Process
 For plain carbon and low-alloy steels the
temperature to which the specimen is heated is
usually between 450 and 650˚C, whereas for hot-
working tool steels and high-speed steels it is
between 600 and 750˚C
 This treatment will not cause any phase changes,
but recrystallization may take place.
 Machining allowance sufficient to compensate
for any warping resulting from stress relieving
should be provided
24
Stress-Relief Annealing – R.S.
 In the heat treatment of metals, quenching or rapid
cooling is the cause of the greatest residual stresses
 To activate plastic deformations, the local residual
stresses must be above the yield strength of the
material.
 Because of this fact, steels that have a high yield
strength at elevated temperatures can withstand
higher levels of residual stress than those that have a
low yield strength at elevated temperatures
 Soaking time also has an influence on the effect of
stress-relief annealing

25
Relation between heating temperature
and Reduction in Residual Stresses

 Higher temperatures and

longer times of annealing
may reduce residual
stresses to lower levels

26
 Stress Relief Annealing - Cooling
 The residual stress level after stress-relief annealing will be
maintained only if the cool down from the annealing
temperature is controlled and slow enough that no new
internal stresses arise.
 New stresses that may be induced during cooling depend
on the (1) cooling rate, (2) on the cross-sectional size of
the workpiece, and (3)on the composition of the steel

27
2. Normalizing
 A heat treatment process consisting of
austenitizing at temperatures of 30–80˚C
above the AC3 transformation temperature
followed by slow cooling (usually in air)
 The aim of which is to obtain a fine-grained,
uniformly distributed, ferrite–pearlite
structure
 Normalizing is applied mainly to unalloyed
and low-alloy hypoeutectoid steels
 For hypereutectoid steels the austenitizing
temperature is 30–80˚C above the AC1 or ACm
transformation temperature

28
Normalizing – Heating and Cooling

29
Normalizing – Austenitizing
Te m p e r a t u r e R a n g e

30
Effect of Normalizing on Grain Size
 Normalizing refines the grain of a steel that has
become coarse-grained as a result of heating to a high
temperature, e.g., for forging or welding

Carbon steel of 0.5% C. (a) As-rolled or forged; (b)

normalized. Magnification 500
31
Need for Normalizing
 Grain refinement or homogenization of the
structure by normalizing is usually performed
either to improve the mechanical properties of
the workpiece or (previous to hardening) to
obtain better and more uniform results after
hardening
 Normalizing is also applied for better
machinability of low-carbon steels

32
 Normalizing after Rolling
 After hot rolling, the
structure of steel is usually
oriented in the rolling
direction
 To remove the oriented
structure and obtain the
same mechanical
properties in all
directions, a normalizing
annealing has to be
performed

33
Normalizing after Forging
 After forging at high temperatures,
especially with workpieces that vary
widely in crosssectional size, because of
the different rates of cooling from the
forging temperature, a heterogeneous
structure is obtained that can be made
uniform by normalizing

34
 Normalizing – Holding Time
 Holding time at austenitizing temperature may be
calculated using the empirical formula:
t = 60 + D
where t is the holding time (min) and D is the
maximum diameter of the workpiece (mm).

35
 Normalizing - Cooling
 Care should be taken to ensure that the cooling rate
within the workpiece is in a range corresponding to
the transformation behavior of the steel-in-question
that results in a pure ferrite–pearlite structure
 If, for round bars of different diameters cooled in
air, the cooling curves in the core have been
experimentally measured and recorded, then by
using the appropriate CCT diagram for the steel
grade in question, it is possible to predict the
structure and hardness after normalizing

36
3. Isothermal Annealing
 Hypoeutectoid low-carbon steels as well as
medium-carbon structural steels are often
isothermally annealed, for best machinability
 An isothermally annealed structure should have the
following characteristics:
1. High proportion of ferrite
2. Uniformly distributed pearlite grains
3. Fine lamellar pearlite grains

37
Principle of Isothermal Annealing
 Bainite formation can
be avoided only by very
slow continuous
cooling, but with such
a slow cooling a
textured (elongated
ferrite) structure
results (hatched area)

38
Process - Isothermal Annealing
 Austenitizing followed by a fast cooling to the
temperature range of pearlite formation (usually about
650˚C.)
 Holding at this temperature until the complete
transformation of pearlite
 and cooling to room temperature at an arbitrary
cooling rate

39
 4. Spheroidizing Annealing
 It is also called as Soft
Annealing
 Any process of heating and
cooling steel that produces a
rounded or globular form of
carbide
 It is an annealing process at
temperatures close below or
close above the AC1
temperature, with subsequent
slow cooling

40
Spheroidizing - Purpose
 The aim is to produce a soft structure by changing all hard
constituents like pearlite, bainite, and martensite (especially in
steels with carbon contents above 0.5% and in tool steels) into a
structure of spheroidized carbides in a ferritic matrix

(a) a medium-carbon low-alloy steel after soft annealing at 720C;

(b) a high-speed steel annealed at 820C.

41
 Spheroidizing - Process
 Process: A
 Heat the part to a temperature just below the
Ferrite-Austenite line, line A1 727 ºC.
 Hold the temperature for a prolonged time,
 Fairly slow cooling. Or

 Process: B
 Cycle multiple times between temperatures
slightly above and slightly below the 727 ºC
line, say for example between 700 and 750 ºC,
 Slow cooling, or
 Process: C
 For tool and alloy steels heat to 750 to 800 ºC,
 Hold for several hours,
 Slow cooling. 42
 Spheroidizing - Uses

 Such a soft structure is required for good

machinability of steels having more than
0.6%C and for all cold-working processes
that include plastic deformation.
 Spheroidite steel is the softest and most
ductile form of steel

43
 Spheroidizing - Mechanism
 The physical mechanism of soft annealing is based on
the coagulation of cementite particles within the
ferrite matrix, for which the diffusion of carbon is
decisive
 Globular cementite within the ferritic matrix is the
structure having the lowest energy content of all
structures in the iron–carbon system
 The carbon diffusion depends on temperature and
time

44
Annealing - summary

•Most heat treating operations begin with heating the alloy into the
austenitic phase field to dissolve the carbide in the iron
47
Annealing - summary

©2003 Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning ™ is a trademark used herein
under license.

Schematic summary of the simple heat treatments for

(a) hypoeutectoid steels and (b) hypereutectoid steels.

48
Example: Design Heat Treatment Temp.
 Recommend temperatures for the process annealing,
annealing, normalizing, and spheroidizing of 1020,
1077, and 10120 steels.

49
Austempering

 Material is quenched above the temperature when

Martensite forms MS, around 215 ºC ( Eutectoid steel)
 Hold longer at this temperature, the Austenite
transforms into Bainite
 Tendency to crack is severely reduced.

50
 Martempering
 Martempering is similar to
Austempering except that the part is
slowly cooled through the martensite
transformation.
 The structure is martensite, which
needs to tempered just as much
as martensite that is formed
through rapid quenching.
 The biggest advantage of
Martempering over rapid
quenching is that there is less
distortion and tendency to crack.

51
Tempering
 Process done subsequent to quench hardening
 Quench-hardened parts are often too brittle.
 Brittleness is caused by a predominance of
martensite.
 This brittleness is removed by tempering.
 Tempering results in a desired combination of
hardness, ductility, toughness, strength, and
structural stability.
 The mechanism of tempering depends on the steel and
the tempering temperature.

52
Tempering
 Martensite is a somewhat unstable structure.
 When heated, the Carbon atoms diffuse from
Martensite to form a carbide precipitate and the
concurrent formation of Ferrite and Cementite,
which is the stable form.
 Tool steels for example, lose about 2 to 4 points of
hardness on the Rockwell C scale. Even though a
little strength is sacrificed, toughness (as measured
by impact strength) is increased substantially.
 Springs and such parts need to be much tougher —
these are tempered to a much lower hardness.

53
 Tempering process
 Tempering at temperatures 300°C - 400°C.
– Soaking time varies (2 to 8 hr)s depending on the parts size.
– At these temperatures martensite transforms to trostite (very
fine mixture of ferrite and cementite).
– Trostite is softer than martensite and more ductile.
 Tempering at temperatures higher than 400°C but lower
than lower critical point (A1).
 Soaking time varies (2 to 8 hrs) depending on the parts size.
 At these temperatures martensite transforms to sorbite (fine
mixture of ferrite and cementite).
 Sorbite and trostite are principally similar structures
differing only in the particles size.
 Sorbite is more more ductility and toughness, and less strong
than trostite.
54
Example: Design of a Quench and Temper Treatment
A rotating shaft that delivers power from an electric motor is made
from a 1050 steel. Its yield strength should be at least 150,000 psi,
yet it should also have at least 15% elongation in order to provide
toughness. Design a heat treatment to produce this part.

55
 What happens during rapid cooling?

 Phase diagrams only show stable phases that are

formed during slow cooling
 If cooling is rapid, the phase diagram becomes invalid
and metastable phases may form
 In the case of steel, the formation of ferrite and cementite
requires the diffusion of carbon out of the ferrite phase.
 What happens if cooling is too rapid to allow this?
 The crystal lattice tries to switch from fcc (austenite)
to bcc (ferrite).
Excess carbon distorted body centred lattice (BCT)

MARTENSITE
56
 Hardening and Tempering
 Steels can be heat treated to high hardness and
strength (wear properties) levels. Structural
components subjected to high operating stress need the
high strength of a hardened structure. Similarly, tools such
as dies, knives, cutting devices, and forming devices
need a hardened structure to resist wear and deformation

 As-quenched hardened steels are so brittle that even slight

impacts may cause fracture.
 Tempering is a heat treatment that reduces the brittleness
of a steel without significantly lowering its hardness and
strength. All hardened steels must be tempered before use.
57
Hardening and Tempering
 Hardenability: is the ability of the Fe-C alloy to
be hardened by forming martensite. Hardenability
is not “hardness”.
 It is a qualitative measure of the rate at which
hardness decreases with distance from the surface
because of decreased martensite content.
 Hardenability depends on
 Carbon content
 Alloying elements
 Geometry
 Cooling media
58
 Hardenability Curve

1. Quenched end cools most rapidly and contains most

martensite.
2. Cooling rate decreases with distance from quenched end:
greater C diffusion, more pearlite/bainite, lower hardness
3. High hardenability means that the hardness curve is relatively
flat.
59
 0.40 wt% C, + different additional alloying elements
Hardenability
•Alloying
elements delay
formation of
pearlite, bainite :
more martensite

•Can also define

hardenability in
terms of cooling
rate (0C/s)

60
Quenching Geometry

61
Effect of quenching media

62
Direct Hardening – Austenitizing and quench:

 Austenitizing – again taking a steel with .6% carbon or

greater and heating to the austenite region.
 Rapid quench to trap the carbon in the crystal
structure – called martensite (BCT)
 Quench requirements determined from isothermal
transformation diagram (IT diagram).
 Get “Through” Hardness!!!
Austenitizing:

Heat to austenite
range. Want to be
close to
transformation
temperature to get
fine grain structure.
For this particular steel want to cool from about 1400 F to <400 F in
about 1 second!
Quenching:
 Depending on how fast steel must be quenched
(from IT diagram), the heat treater will determine
type of quenching required:
 Water (most severe)
 Oil
 Molten Salt
 Gas/ Air (least severe)
 Many phases in between!!! Ex: add water/polymer to
water reduces quench time! Adding 10% sodium
hydroxide or salt will have twice the cooling rate!
Direct Hardening - Selective Hardening :

 Same requirements as austenitizing:

 Must have sufficient carbon levels (>0.4%)
 Heat to austenite region and quench
 Why do?
 When only desire a select region to be hardened:
Knives, gears, etc.
 Object to big to heat in furnace! Large casting w/ wear
surface
 Types:
 Flame hardening, induction hardening, laser beam
hardening
Flame Hardening:
Induction Hardening
Diffusion Hardening (aka Case Hardening):
 Why do?
 Carbon content to low to through harden with previous
processes.
 Desire hardness only in select area
 More controlled versus flame hardening and induction
hardening.
 Can get VERY hard local areas (i.e. HRC of 60 or greater)
 Interstitial diffusion when tiny solute atoms diffuce into
spaces of host atoms
 Substitiutional diffusion when diffusion atoms to big to
occupy interstitial sites – then must occupy vacancies
Diffusion Hardening:
 Requirements:
 High temp (> 900 F)
 Host metal must have low concentration of the diffusing
species
 Must be atomic suitability between diffusing species and
host metal
CASE HARDENING
 Case hardening or surface hardening is
the process of hardening the surface of a
metal, often a low carbon steel, by infusing
elements into the material's surface, forming
a thin layer of a harder alloy.
 Case hardening is usually done after the part
in question has been formed into its final
shape

73
Case-Hardening - Processes
 Flame/Induction Hardening
 Carburizing
 Nitriding
 Cyaniding
 Carbonitriding

74
Flame and induction hardening
 Flame or induction hardening are processes in
which the surface of the steel is heated to high
temperatures (by direct application of a flame, or
by induction heating) then cooled rapidly,
generally using water
 This creates a case of martensite on the surface.
 A carbon content of 0.4–0.6 wt% C is needed for
this type of hardening
 Application Examples -> Lock shackle and
Gears

75
Carburizing
 Carburizing is a process used to case harden steel
with a carbon content between 0.1 and 0.3 wt%
C.
 Steel is introduced to a carbon rich environment
and elevated temperatures for a certain amount
of time, and then quenched so that the carbon is
locked in the structure
 Example -> Heat a part with an acetylene torch
set with a fuel-rich flame and quench it in a
carbon-rich fluid such as oil

76
Carburizing
 Carburization is a diffusion-controlled
process, so the longer the steel is held in the
carbon-rich environment the greater the
carbon penetration will be and the higher
the carbon content.
 The carburized section will have a carbon
content high enough that it can be hardened
again through flame or induction
hardening

77
 Carburizing
 The carbon can come from a solid, liquid or gaseous
source
 Solid source -> pack carburizing. Packing low
carbon steel parts with a carbonaceous material and
heating for some time diffuses carbon into the outer
layers.
 A heating period of a few hours might form a high-
carbon layer about one millimeter thick
 Liquid Source -> involves placing parts in a bath of a
molten carbon-containing material, often a metal
cyanide
 Gaseous Source -> involves placing the parts in a
furnace maintained with a methane-rich interior 78
 Nitriding
 Nitriding heats the steel part to 482–621°C in an
atmosphere of NH3 gas and broken NH3.
 The time the part spends in this environment
dictates the depth of the case.
 The hardness is achieved by the formation of
nitrides.
 Nitride forming elements must be present in the
workpiece for this method to work.
 Advantage -> it causes little distortion, so the part
can be case hardened after being quenched,
tempered and machined
81
Cyaniding
 Cyaniding is mainly used on low carbon steels.
 The part is heated to 870-950°C in a bath of
sodium cyanide (NaCN)and then is quenched
and rinsed, in water or oil, to remove any
residual cyanide.
 The process produces a thin, hard shell (0.5-
0.75mm) that is harder than the one produced
by carburizing, and can be completed in 20 to 30
minutes compared to several hours.
 It is typically used on small parts.
 The major drawback of cyaniding is that cyanide
salts are poisonous
82
Carbonitriding
 Carbonitriding is similar to cyaniding except a
gaseous atmosphere of ammonia and
hydrocarbons (e.g. CH4)is used instead of
sodium cyanide.
 If the part is to be quenched then the part is
heated to 775–885°C; if not then the part is
heated to 649–788°C

83
Example
Design of Surface-Hardening Treatments for a Drive Train

 Design the materials and heat treatments for an

automobile axle and drive gear.

84
PRECIPITATION HARDENING
 Precipitation hardening (or age hardening),
is a heat treatment technique used to increase
the yield strength of malleable materials
 Malleable materials are those, which are capable
of deforming under compressive stress
 It relies on changes in solid solubility with
temperature to produce fine particles of an
impurity phase, which blocks the movement of
dislocations in a crystal's lattice

85
Precipitation Hardening
 Since dislocations are often the dominant
carriers of plasticity, this serves to harden
the material
 The impurities play the same role as the
particle substances in particle-reinforced
composite materials.
 Alloys must be kept at elevated temperature
for hours to allow precipitation to take
place. This time delay is called aging

86
Precipitation Hardening
 Two different heat treatments involving
precipitates can change the strength of a material:
1. solution heat treating
2. precipitation heat treating
 Solution treatment involves formation of a
single-phase solid solution via quenching and
leaves a material softer
 Precipitation treating involves the addition of
impurity particles to increase a material's strength

87
Precipitation Mechanism – Aluminum Alloy

88
Effect of Aging Time on Precipitates

89
QUENCHING and TEMPERING
 In quench hardening, fast cooling
rates, depending on the chemical
composition of the steel and its
section size, are applied to prevent
diffusion-controlled trans
formations in the pearlite range and
to obtain a structure consisting
mainly of martensite and bainite
 However, the reduction of
undesirable thermal and
transformational stresses usually
requires slower cooling rates
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 Quenching
 To harden by quenching, a
metal must be heated into the
austenitic crystal phase and
then quickly cooled
 Cooling may be done with
forced air, oil, polymer
dissolved in water, or brine
 Upon being rapidly cooled, a
portion of austenite
(dependent on alloy
composition) will transform to
martensite
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Quenching
 Cooling speeds, from fastest to slowest, go from
polymer, brine, fresh water, oil, and forced air
 However, quenching a certain steel too fast can
result in cracking, which is why high-tensile
steels such as AISI 4140 should be quenched in
oil, tool steels such as H13 should be quenched in
forced air, and low alloy such as AISI 1040 should
be quenched in brine
 Metals such as austenitic stainless steel (304,
316), and copper, produce an opposite effect
when these are quenched: they anneal

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 Tempering
 Untempered martensite, while very hard, is too
brittle to be useful for most applications.
 In tempering, it is required that quenched parts
be tempered (heat treated at a low
temperature, often 150˚C) to impart some
toughness.
 Higher tempering temperatures (may be up to
700˚C, depending on alloy and application) are
sometimes used to impart further ductility,
although some yield strength is lost

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Tempering
 Tempering is done to toughen the metal by
transforming brittle martensite or bainite into a
combination of ferrite and cementite or
sometimes Tempered martensite
 Tempered martensite is much finer-grained
than just-quenched martensite
 The brittle martensite becomes tough and
ductile after it is tempered.
 Carbon atoms were trapped in the austenite
when it was rapidly cooled, typically by oil or
water quenching, forming the martensite
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Tempering
 The martensite becomes tough after being
tempered because when reheated, the
microstructure can rearrange and the carbon
atoms can diffuse out of the distorted body-
centred-tetragonal (BCT) structure.
 After the carbon diffuses out, the result is
nearly pure ferrite with body-centred
structure.

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Example
Design of a Quench and Temper Treatment
 A rotating shaft that delivers power from an electric motor
is made from a 1050 steel. Its yield strength should be at
least 145,000 psi, yet it should also have at least 15%
elongation in order to provide toughness. Design a heat
treatment to produce this part.

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