Mark Andrew Cabale BSME-4A

INDUSTRIAL PLANT PROCESSES

THERMO MECHANICALLY TREATED (TMT) BARS
THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS OF THERMO MECHANICALLY
TREATED(TMT)BARS

TMT bars and its use:

- Thermo-Mechanically Treated (TMT) bars are high-strength reinforcement bars

that have a tough outer core and a soft inner core. The strength of TMT bars is
carefully controlled by optimising the water pressure for their pearlitic core and
tough surface of tempered martensite, thereby providing optimmum strength,
ductility and toughness.

TMT bars are widely used in general purpose concrete reinforcement structures,
bridges and flyovers, dams, thermal and hydel power plants, industrial structures,
high-rise buildings, underground platforms in metro railway and rapid transport
system.

Production flow chart of TMT bars:

TMT Bars are manufactured in the following steps:

1. Iron Ore/Raw material to Billet:

The raw materials like iron ore, coke or

flukes are utilized to extract iron that is kept
in the molten state and is placed in the
furnace and treated with hot gas while in its
liquid form. The molten state of iron is pre-
processed and converted into steel. The
liquid form of steel is then poured into a
casting machine to get the billets. At this
point, the iron ore gets purified, and all the
impurities get accumulated in the form of
slag.

2. Conversion of Billets to steel; Heating, Rolling and formation of reinforced bar:

Once the billets attain desired rolling temp it is

ejected from the furnace. Then with the help of a
rolling conveyor, these billets are made to pass
through 1 stand i.e.Roughing stand. Temperature
prior to rolling is also monitored by St optical
pyrometer. This begins the process of gradual size
reduction of billets. Following roughing mill, the size
is further reduced in intermediate & finishing Mill.
This gradual reduction is an important factor to
ensure the finer grain structure of the bar. The
rolling continues till the required size is achieved
with the help of Roller Bearing Fitted roll, it
prevents any unnecessary deformation of the bar.
The loop scanners in the flow of the bar ensure a
perfectly tensionless rolling process & result in the perfectly round shape of the bar.
The surface characteristics of the steel are finalized in this section only.

3. Thermo Mechanical Treatment:

Thermo Mechanical Treatment is the final step in the manufacturing process of the
TMT bar. It involves three sub-steps. These three essential steps are:

a. Quenching:

The process of quenching is intended to provide the

hardness and ductility to the steel bars and assure the
right and desired properties. As the hot rolled steel
bars come out from the mill, they enter into a water
spray system called ‘Thermex System’. In this process,
the temperature of the outer layer of the steel bars
decreases rapidly, which leads to hardening it, while
the inner core remains hot and flexible. The entire
process is called ‘quenching’ of the TMT bars. Quenching converts the outer surface
of the reinforced bar to Martensite,a hard form of steel and causes it to shrink that
in turn pressurizes the core and helps to form the correct crystal
structures.Therefore,the surface of the quenched bar becomes cold and hardened
whereas the core still remains hot.

B. Self- tempering:

A temperature gradient is formed across the

cross-section of the quenched bar after leaving
the quenching box. As an outcome heat flows
from the core at a relatively higher temperature
to the outer surface.This causes the correct
tempering of the outer martensitic layer into a
structure known Tempered Martensite and the
formation of an intermediate ring of Martensite
and Bainite. The core still stays in the austenitic
state at this stage.

C. Atmospheric cooling:

n this process, TMT bars are put on a cooling bed,

where bars are arranged to be cooled at the
normal atmospheric temperature, during this
austenitic core of the bars turns into a ferrite-
pearlite structure. This step makes sure that the
tensile strength of the bar develops weldability.
During this, the austenitic core of the bars turns
into a ferrite-pearlite structure.