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MME 444 Level 4 Term 1 January 2023 Term

January 2023 Term Laboratory Report Book

MME 444
Heat Treatment and
Microstructure Sessional
Name: _______________________________________

Student Number: ________________________

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MME 444 Level 4 Term 1 January 2023 Term

January 2023 Term

MME 444
Heat Treatment and
Microstructure Sessional

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Table of Content

Plagiarism Statement
Safety in the Laboratory
Background Information
Experiments 1—5
Case Study
Additional Write Up
Assessment Criteria
Glossary of Terms

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Plagiarism Statement
Before handing in assessed report/assignment, please print off a copy of this plagiarism statement.
You should sign and date it, and attach with your report prior to submission.

PLAGIARISM STATEMENT (to be signed by student)

Using someone else's ideas or phrasing and representing those ideas or phrasing as
my own, either on purpose or through carelessness, is a serious offense known as
plagiarism. Plagiarism is an examination offence and may carry heavy penalties.

I declare that apart from properly referenced quotations, this report is my own work and contains no
plagiarism; it has not been submitted previously for any other assessed work on this course.

I further declare that the report in any way does not resemble cheating and attempted cheating, lying,
and stealing.

Student Name:

Student Number:

Course Number: MME 444 Heat Treatment and Microstructure Sessional

Student Signature:

Date:

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MME 444 Heat Treatment and

Microstructure Sessional
1.50 Credit One Laboratory Work per Week

Level 4 Term 1 January 2023 Term

Department of Materials and Bangladesh University of Engineering and

Metallurgical Engineering Technology, Dhaka 1000

SAFETY IN THE LABORATORY

All students must read and understand the information in this document with regard to laboratory
safety and emergency procedures prior to the first laboratory session. Your personal laboratory
safety depends mostly on you. Effort has been made to address situations that may pose a hazard
in the lab, however, the information and instructions provided cannot be considered all-inclusive.
Students must adhere to written and verbal safety instructions throughout the academic term.

Common Sense

Good common sense is needed for safety in a laboratory. It is expected that each student
will work in a responsible manner and exercise good judgment and common sense. If at
any time you are not sure how to handle a particular situation, ask your course tutor or
lab instructor for advice. Do not touch anything with which you are not completely
familiar!!! It is always better to ask questions than to risk harm to yourself.

Personal and General laboratory safety

1. Never eat, drink, or smoke while working in the laboratory. Read labels carefully.
2. Do not use any equipment unless you are trained and approved as a user by lab staff.
3. Wear safety glasses when working with hazardous materials and/or Equipment.
Wear gloves when using any hazardous or toxic agent.
4. Clothing: When handling dangerous substances, wear gloves, laboratory coats,
and safety shield or glasses. Sandals should not be worn in the lab at any time.
Shoes are required when working with the heat treatment furnaces.
5. If you have long hair or loose clothes, make sure it is tied back or confined.
6. Keep the work area clear of all materials except those needed for your work.
Extra books, personal items, etc. should be kept away from equipment, which
requires air flow or ventilation to prevent overheating.
7. Disposal - Students are responsible for the proper disposal of used material if
any in appropriate containers.
8. Equipment Failure - If a piece of equipment fails while being used, report it
immediately to your lab tutor. Never try to fix the problem yourself because you
could harm yourself and others.
9. If leaving a lab unattended, turn off all ignition sources and lock the doors. Clean
up your work area before leaving. Wash hands before leaving the lab and
before eating.

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Cutting & Grinding

1. Power saws should not be operated without eye protection and an apron.
2. Do not push the specimen or materials against the cutting wheel directly with the fingers.
3. Long materials should be supported or clamped before cutting.
4. Hold the sample tightly.
5. Do not overheat the sample while grinding. Cool the sample in water during
intermediate inspections.
Heat Treating

1. Use tongs to insert or remove the specimens from the furnace.

2. Use insulating gloves to open or close the doors to the furnaces.
3. Either cool the specimens immediately after removal from the furnace or place
in a designated area for slow cooling. Hot specimens should not be left in the
open where may be accidentally touched.
4. The furnaces should be turned off when not in use.
5. If specimens are left in a furnace and the area is abandoned by the student, a
sign must be left with a name and phone number and time for removal.
6. Quenching samples in oil can cause the oil to ignite. Be prepared to cover the
container after immersion.
7. Use baskets or tongs for quenching in oil or water.

Chemical safety

1. Treat every chemical as if it were hazardous.

2. Make sure all chemicals are clearly and currently labelled with the substance
name, concentration, date, and name of the individual responsible.
3. Never return chemicals to reagent bottles. (Try for the correct amount and
share any excess.)
4. Comply with fire regulations concerning storage quantities, types of approved
containers and cabinets, proper labelling, etc. If uncertain about regulations,
contact the head of the department.
5. Use volatile and flammable compounds only in a fume hood. Procedures that
produce aerosols should be performed in a hood to prevent inhalation of
hazardous material.
6. Never allow a solvent to come in contact with your skin. Always use gloves. Never
"smell" a solvent!! Read the label on the solvent bottle to identify its contents.
7. Dispose of waste and broken glassware in proper containers. Clean up spills immediately.
8. Do not store food in laboratories.

I, ____________________________________________ Student No. ______________________have read

and understood the laboratory safety procedures and policies. I am responsible for following these
procedures while in the laboratories.

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(Signature with date)

Background Information

The purposes of this experiment are to:

▪ Investigate the processes of heat treating of steel
▪ Study hardness testing and its limits
▪ Examine microstructures of steel in relation to hardness

Background
To understand heat treatment of steels requires an ability to understand the Fe-C phase diagram
shown in Figure 1. Steel with a 0.78 wt% C is said to be a eutectoid steel. Steel with carbon content
less than 0.78 wt% C is hypoeutectoid and greater than 0.78 wt% C is hypereutectoid. The region
marked austenite is face-centered-cubic (FCC) and ferrite is body-centered-cubic (BCC).

There are also regions that have two phases. If one cools a hypoeutectoid steel from a point in the
austenite region, reaching the A3 line, ferrite will form from the austenite. This ferrite is called
proeutectoid ferrite. When A1 is reached, a mixture of ferrite and iron carbide (cementite) forms
from the remaining austenite. The microstructure of a hypoeutectoid steel upon cooling would
contain proeutectoid ferrite plus pearlite (α+ Fe3C).

The size, type and distribution of phases present can be altered by not waiting for thermodynamic
equilibrium. Steels are often cooled so rapidly that metastable phases appear. One such phase is
martensite, which is a body-centered tetragonal (BCT) phase and forms only by very rapid cooling.

Much of the information on non-equilibrium distribution, size and type of phases has come from
experiments. The results are presented in a time-temperature-transformation (TTT) diagram shown
in Figure 2. As a sample is cooled, the temperature will decrease as shown in curve #1. At point A,
pearlite (a mixture of ferrite and cementite) will start to form from austenite. At the time and
temperature associated with point B, the austenite will have completely transformed to pearlite.
There are many possible paths through the pearlite regions. Slower cooling causes coarse Pearlite,
while fast cooling causes fine pearlite to form.

Cooling can produce other phases. If a specimen were cooled at a rate corresponding to curve #2 in
Figure 3, martensite, instead of Pearlite, would begin to form at M s temperature (point C), and the
pearlite would be completely transformed to martensite at temperature Ms. Martensite causes
increased hardness in steels.

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Unfortunately, hardness in steels also produces brittleness. The brittleness is usually associated with
low impact energy and low toughness. To restore some of the toughness and impact properties it is
frequently necessary to "temper" or "draw" the steels. This is accomplished by heating the steel to
a temperature between 260 oC and 540 oC. Tempering removes some of the internal stresses and
introduces recovery processes in the steel without a large decrease in hardness or strength.

To obtain the desired mechanical properties it is necessary to cool steel from the proper
temperature at the proper rates and temper them at the proper temperature and time. Isothermal

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transformation diagrams for SAE 1045 steel are shown in Figure 4.

Heat Treatment of Steels

Common steels, which are really solid solutions of carbon in iron, are body-centered-cubic. However,
the carbon has a low solubility in bcc iron and precipitates as iron carbide when steel is cooled from
870 oC. The processes of precipitation can be altered by adjusting the cooling rate. This changes the
distribution and size of the carbide which forms a laminar structure called pearlite during slow
cooling processes.

If a steel is quenched into water or oil from 870 oC, a metastable phase called martensite forms,
which is body-centered-tetragonal. This phase sets up large internal stresses and prevents carbide
from forming. The internal stresses produce a high hardness and unfortunately, low toughness. After
cooling, to restore toughness, steels are tempered by reheating them to a lower temperature
around 426 oC and cooling. The tempering relieves the internal stresses and also allows some iron
carbide to form. It also restores ductility.

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EXPERIMENT 1

Name of the Experiment: Introduction to Heat Treatment and Phase Transformation

Draw Fe-Fe3C Phase Diagram and identify the phases

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Draw Fe-C Phase Diagram and identify the phases

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Draw TTT Diagram for Hypo-Eutectoid, Eutectoid, Hyper-eutectoid Steels

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Draw CCT Diagram for Hypo-Eutectoid, Eutectoid, Hyper-eutectoid Steels

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Draw a schematic view of a laboratory furnace

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Experiment 2

Experiment Name Design of annealing and normalising Processes of Plain Carbon Steel

Full annealing

Full annealing process consists of three steps. First step is heating the steel component to
above A3 (upper critical temperature for ferrite) temperature for hypo-eutectoid steels and
above A1 (lower critical temperature) temperature for hypereutectoid steels by 30-50 oC. The
second step is holding the steel component at this temperature for a definite holding (soaking)
period of at least 20 minutes per cm of the thick section to assure equalization of temperature
throughout the cross- section of the component and complete austenization. Final step is to
cool the hot steel component to room temperature slowly in the furnace, which is also called
as furnace cooling. The full annealing is used to relieve the internal stresses induced due to
cold working, welding, etc, to reduce hardness and increase ductility, to refine the grain
structure, to make the material homogenous in respect of chemical composition, to increase
uniformity of phase distribution, and to increase machinability.

Normalizing

Normalizing process consists of three steps. The first step involves heating the steel
component above the A3 temperature for hypo eutectoid steels and above Acm (upper critical
temperature for cementite) temperature for hypereutectoid steels by 30 oC to 50 oC. The
second step involves holding the steel component long enough at this temperature for
homogeneous austenization. The final step involves cooling the hot steel component to room
temperature in still air. Due to air cooling, normalized components show slightly different
structure and properties than annealed components.

The properties of normalised components are not much different from those of annealed
components. However, normalizing takes less time and is more convenient and economical
than annealing and hence is a more common heat treatment in industries. Normalizing is used
for high- carbon (hypereutectoid) steels to eliminate the cementite network that may develop
upon slow cooling in the temperature range from point Acm to point A1. Normalizing is also
used to relieve internal stresses induced by heat treating, welding, casting, forging, forming,
or machining. Normalizing also improves the ductility without reducing the hardness and
strength.

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Figure 5: Schematic representation of annealing operation

Procedure
You are provided with 2 specimens of plain carbon steel for your study.

1. Measure the hardness of all specimens using the Brinell (3000 kg) and Rockwell B or C scales.
2. Determine chemical composition of the specimens.
3. Obtain microstructure of the specimens.
4. Heat two specimen in one furnace at a pre-determined time and temperature.
5. Remove one specimen from the furnace and cool it in air on a refractory brick.
6. Get microstructure and hardness of the specimen removed using the Brinell (3000 kg) and Rockwell B or C scales.
7. Turn off the furnace with the one remaining specimen. Allow the sample to remain in the furnace for one
hour. The air-cooled and furnace-cooled specimens can be cooled in water after one hour. Why? (Answer this
in your write up).
8. Get microstructure and hardness of the specimen removed using the Brinell (3000 kg) and Rockwell B or C scales.

Data Analysis
1. If more than one impression is made per sample, average the Brinell diameters for each specimen.
2. Compute the Brinell hardness numbers and compare with the numbers read from a conversion chart for
Rockwell A or C to Brinell.
3. Graph BHN (x-axis) versus Rockwell Hardness numbers (y-axis).
4. Graph Rockwell B or C hardness vs. tempering temperature (oC).
5. Compute the ultimate tensile strength (psi) of all specimens from the average BHN for each specimen using:
σult= 500 x BHN

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OBSERVATIONS

Observe the microstructure and write down the phases present (Annealing)

Sample Identity:

Draw the microstructure in the circle given below and write down the phases

Magnification used

The phases present in the microstructure and the approximate % of major phases

are Phases Present Percentage

➢ ------------------------------------------ ------------
➢ ------------------------------------------ -------------
➢ ------------------------------------------ -------------

Etchant used Hardness

From the observation of microstructure & Hardness of the given sample

…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………………......
.......................................................................................................................................................

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Observe the microstructure and write down the phases present (Normalising)

Sample Identity:

Draw the microstructure in the circle given below and write down the phases

Magnification used

The phases present in the microstructure and the approximate % of major phases

are Phases Present Percentage

➢ ------------------------------------------ ------------
➢ ------------------------------------------ -------------
➢ ------------------------------------------ -------------

Etchant used Hardness

From the observation of microstructure & Hardness of the given sample

…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………………......
.......................................................................................................................................................

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Answer the following Questions

1. Define the term “heat treatment”. Why are the steels heat treated?

2. If one of the specimens of the same kind of steel is normalized and the other is annealed, which will show more
strength and why?

3. Out of the normalized and annealed samples, which one is more machinable and why?

4. How does the hardness vary with cooling rate?

5. How do your microstructures compare with standard microstructures?

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6. What temperature will be used for annealing and normalizing the mild steel specimen with 0.25%C?

7. What is the nature of the microstructure in spheroidized high carbon steel, normalized high carbon steel,
annealed high carbon steel?

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8. The microstructure of an iron-carbon alloy consists of proeutectoid ferrite and pearlite; the mass
fractions of these two micro-constituents are 0.174 and 0.826, respectively. Determine the
concentration of carbon in this alloy.

9. Explain the process of annealing?

10. What is the significance of this experiment? How is it related to your course of study?

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