6/27/17

MANUFACTURING
Revised 2017
AGRICULTURAL
MACHINES

INTRODUCTION
HEAT TREATMENT OF
METALS by
• Heat treatment is the process of heating and cooling of metals in
their solid states so as to change their properties.
Alexis T. Belonio, MS, PAE, ASEAN Engineer • All metals have crystalline grain structure while they are in the
Former Associate Professor
solid state.
Department of Agricultural Engineering and Environmental Management
College of Agriculture Resources and Environmental Sciences • The properties of metals are determined by the nature of their
,Central Philippine University, Iloilo City
grain structure. By heating and cooling metal brings the proper
Former Affiliate Professor grain structure and produced a desired properties.
Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
College of Engineering, Central Luz on State University
Science City of Munoz , Nueva Ecija

Former Adjunct Assistant Professor

Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering and
Department of Chemical Engineering
College of Engineering and Agro-industrial Technology
University of the Philippines at Los Banos
College, Laguna

Heating of Metals in the Furnace

Heat Treatment Plant

Properties of Metals that can be

Changed through Heat Treatment

• Hardness
• Brittleness
• Toughness
• Tensile strength
• Ductility
• Malleability
• Machinability
• Elasticity

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Principle of
Heat
Treatment
Heating Metals to
Certain Temperature

Holding the Metal at

the Elevated Soaking
Temperature for a
Certain Period

Materials Subjected to Heat Treatment Cooling the Metals at a

Certain Rate

Heat Treatment Processes

• Hardening
• Tempering
• Annealing
• Normalizing
• Case-Hardening
• Flame Hardening
• Induction Hardening

Quench Furnace

Furnaces for Heat Treatment

• Electric Heat –Treatment Furnace
– They are capable to provide heat to temperatures within a
ranged of 300-2300 F or 149 C to 260 C.
• Gas-Fired Heat-Treatment Furnace
– Can provides heat to temperature up to 2300 F or 1260 C.
– Gas-fired pot-type liquid hardening furnace heat salts, leadm and
cyanide baths for liquid case-hardening process and for other
heat-treating processes.

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Electric Furnace
Electric Furnaces

Temperature Control
• For best results, heat treatment furnaces should be equipped
with temperature-indicating control device.

Typical Tempering Temperatures for Effect of Carbon Content on

Various Tools
Hardening
Temperature Temper Tools
Color • Plain carbon steel is composed principally of iron and carbon
(C)
• The carbon content on steel makes steel hardening possible.
193 Very light Tool that require maximum hardness Pure iron cannot be hardened by heat treatment.
yellow
• The amount of carbon content largely determine the
218 Light straw Milling cutters, drills, and reamers maximum hardness the heat treatment will produce.
241 Dark straw Taps, threading dies, punches, dies,
and hacksaw blades
254 Yellowish Hammer faces, shear blades, rivets,
brown and wood chisel
274 Purple Center punches and scratch awls
285 Violet Cold chisel, knives, and axes
310 Pale blue Screw drivers, wrenches, & hammers

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Carbon Content on Plain Carbon

Steel
Classification Percentage Carbon
(%)
Low-Carbon Steel 0.05 to 0.30
Medium Carbon Steel 0.30 to 0.60
High-Carbon Steel 0.60 to 1.50

• High Carbon Steel Hardening

– They can be made very hard, brittle, or tough.
– Mostly of cutting tools are made by heat treatment high carbon
steel.
• It is used for medium and high-carbon steel
• Medium Carbon Steel
• The process is heating slowly to proper hardening temperature
– They can be made relatively hard by heat treatment. However, and then cooling rapidly.
they cannot be hardened sufficiently to make them into cutting
tools • Cooling is done by quenching in water, brine, or oil.
• Low Carbon Steel • Hardness of steel is dependent on the amount of carbon in the
– They can be hardened only a small amount by direct hardening. steel, temperature at which the steel is hardened, and the speed
of cooling.
– The thin outside case of these steels can be hardened by case
hardening.

Heated Metals
Grains of Metal

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• High carbon steel when hardened becomes very brittle due to
internal stresses that results from rapid cooling.
• Hardened piece of high-carbon steel to prevent cracks or shatter
requires an additional heat treatment process called tempering
before it can be used. This can be done by allowing the material
to further slowly cooled to ambient for a longer period of time
before using.
Hardening Temperature
• Hardening temperature – It is the temperature to which a piece of
steel should be heated before quenching.
• Hardening temperature for various plain carbon steel is about 10 to
38 C.
• When steel is heated through its upper-transformation temperature,
the grain becomes very fine. If suddenly cooled, the fine grain is
trapped and the steel becomes very hard. Fine-grained steel is
very strong after tempering.

Slow Rapid
Tempering
Heating Cooling

• At the temperature of more than 38 C above the upper-

transformation temperature, the grain starts to coarsen. If the
steel is cooled rapidly, it will be very hard and brittle and may
crack.
• The proper hardening temperature depends upon the amount of
carbon in the steel. The more carbon the steel contains, the
lower its hardening temperature.
• Hardening temperature can be tested using magnet. When the
magnet is no longer attracted by the steel, the heated steel
should be then cooled rapidly by quenching.

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• The rate of cooling is most rapid with brine, less rapid with water,
Quenching Solution slow with oil, and slowest with air.
• If steel is hardened and cooled too rapidly it will crack.
• Brine and water temperature should be 16 C for quenching
• Steel may be quench by: purposes. Oil cools best when it is at a temperature of about 38
to 60 C.
– Water • A light grade of straight mineral oil is often recommended.
– Brine • Plain carbon steel are usually quenched in water or brine.
– Oil • Brines cool about twice as rapid as water and tends to remove
the scale from the steel.
– Air
• Some quenching solutions cool more rapidly than others.

• Gas bubbles will form on the surface of hot metal when it is

immersed in the quenching solution. These bubbles form a
temporary insulation on the surface of the metal which slows
down cooling of metal. During quenching, the steel must be
agitated in the solution so that metals will be cooled evenly.
• Very rapid agitation can double the cooling speed. Excessive
agitation of small parts in water or brine may cause cracking.

Cooling of Metals

Tempering • Factors to consider in determining the tempering temperature of

the steel:
• It is often called drawing or drawing temper.
– Type of steel
• It is the heat treatment process that relieves internal strain in
hardened steel to increase its toughness. – Carbon content of steel
• Properly tempered steel will not crack or fracture under heavy – Required hardness for the steel
stress, vibration, or impact.
– Required toughness for the steel
• In tempering, correct tempering temperature must be used.

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Tempering Procedure
Tempering Temperature
• This process should immediately follow after hardening.
Temperature Application • The steel should be heated slowly and uniformly to correct
tempering temperature.
145 to 593 C Tempering temperature range
• The steel should be held at the tempering temperature (soaking)
193 to 316 C Used mostly for carbon-steel tools for one hour per inch of part thickness.
Above 427 C Used for items that requires extreme • After the required soaking, the steel may be cooled in air or may be
toughness and little hardness quenched in water.

Annealing

• It is heat treatment process that is used to soften steel.

• It relieves internal stress and strain that may have been caused
by machining, or previous heat treatment, or by cold-working
operation such as rolling, stamping, and spinning.
• It is the opposite of hardening.

Annealing

Normalizing
• It is the heat treatment process in which the steel is heated to the
normalizing temperature for a period of time and then allowed to
cool in air.
• Normalizing relieves internal stresses in steel due to forging,
machining, or cold working.
• It also removes the effects of other heat treatment operation.

Annealing of Metals

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Case Hardening
Flame Hardening

• It is a surface hardening process that is used on steels that have

• It is a surface hardening on steel.
hardening properties.
• In this process, a thin surface layer on the steel is hardened
• It hardens the surface of the steel to depths ranging from 0.8 to
while the inner core remains soft.
6.35 mm.
• This generally applied to low carbon steel.
• It is done by heating the surface layer of steel rapidly to the
hardening temperature with oxyacetylene flame. The surface is
immediately flush-quench with spray of water or other coolant and
then tempered.

Induction Hardening
• It is a surface hardening process that is used on steels with
hardening properties.
• It hardens to a depth up to 6.35 mm.
• It is similar to flame hardening except that a high frequency
electric current is used as source of heat for hardening.

Flame Hardening

Reference

• Repp, V.B., McCarthy, W.J., and O.A. Ludwig. 1982.

Metalwork: Technology and Practice. Mcknight Publishing
Company. Bloomington, Illinois. Pp.

Induction Hardening

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Thank you very much and

God bless!!!

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