The last day we ended with definitions of

Lecture 21 the different carbon ranges for steels

Queen’s University, Mechanical Engineering

Low carbon steel: 0.10 – 0.30 %C

© J. Jeswiet

Medium carbon steel: 0.30 – 0.85 %C

High carbon steel: 0.85 – 1.3 %C
MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING
One could ask the question:
MECH 213
What effect does increasing carbon
content have upon strength?

Topic:
Topic: Good morning.

Topic: Steel II

Now
Nowconsider
considerthe
theIron
Iron––Carbon
Carbon
Phase
PhaseDiagram
Diagram
• Austenite, γ, has a Eutectic
face-centred cubic ,
FCC, crystal structure.

γ - FCC
γ – Fe3C

useful allotropic forms of iron:

Increasing brittleness • Ferrite, α, has a
F uts

body-centred cubic,
BCC, structure. α – Fe3C

Eutectiod:
Eutectiod: produces a
structure called Pearlite

The Eutectoid is very important in steel making Pearlite Steel Crystal Structures
Eutectoid, • Pearlite is made up of cementite
Pearlite, (Fe3C) lamellae, and ferrite (Fe).
α – Fe3C • cementite is black and ferrite is
white in this figure.
Low carbon steel: 0.10 – 0.30 %C
Medium carbon steel: 0.30 – 0.85 %C • 100% Pearlite occurs at the
High carbon steel: 0.85 – 1.3 %C eutectiod. To the left of the
eutectiod, ferrite increases and
pearlite decreases
• To the right of the eutectiod, the Pearlite structure
amount of cementite increases

Pearlite α − Iron, Fe

Cementite,
Fe3C eutectoid
0.1 0.3 0.85
0.3 0.85 1.3

1
 Recall carbon content:
Iron
Iron Carbon
Carbon Diagram
Diagram
Low carbon steel; 0.10 – 0.30 %C
Medium carbon steel: 0.30 – 0.85 %C
High carbon steel: 0.85 – 1.3 %C
γ

Eutectiod or Pearlite

For heat treating purposes

Observe what happens as
duc ten
carbon content increases:
tili s i le
ty s tr Useful range
en g
th
Steel Cast iron

Heat
Heat treating
treatingtemperature
temperature ranges
ranges for
for plain
plain carbon
carbon steels
steels Normalizing: Heating a steel part of heavy section to a
temperature 100° C above the upper critical range and then
cooled in still air
Normalizing plays an important role in grain size.

Up 1st the grain size is controlled by the size of the Austenite

p er grains, from which they form on cooling;
cr
iti 2nd when steel is heated to just above the upper critical the
ca
l grain growth is primarily a function of temperature and time
Annealing: any any heating and cooling operation that is
applied to induce softening
Full Anneal: steel is heated to 100oC above the upper critical
Process Anneal: steel is heated to a temperature just below
the lower critical
Spheroidizing Anneal: Any process of heating and cooling
that produces a round or globular form of carbide in steels

Alloying has an effect Two Alloys which are

upon the Eutectoid used for either
Temperature increasing hardenability
and upon the carbon or corrosion resistance
content or both,
and upon the size of affect the austenitic
the austentitic zone zone as shown

2
The rate of cooling can also have a large effect Phase diagrams are equilibrium diagrams
upon the microscopic structure of the steel & are derived by cooling slowly
martensitic structure
However, if the alloy is cooled at faster rates, different
micro-structures and properties can be achieved
Then time, the rate at which cooling occurs, temperature
of the solution and transformation are all inter-related
This give us another diagram called the TTT diagram

Time Temperature Transformation – TTT

[for Eutectoid steel] Time Temperature Transformation
• The knee of the TTT diagram indicates where
changes in microstructure begin to occur.
• If the temperature of the steel can be lowered
quickly enough a change in microstructure can
be avoided until it is desired; changes can be
“frozen” for a while
• In general the faster the steel is quenched the
harder it will become
• Because rapid cooling can cause thermal
Different stresses (and cracking) a balance must be
microstructures achieved between rapid cooling and stress relief
Called the
“knee”

Some examples of cooling curves

Ms = martensite starts
Mf = martensite finished Cooling curves showing the
microstructures involved

3
 Steel Crystal Structures Example of how cooling
• Martensite forms only when curves are obtained 1
steel is quenched quickly
enough to reach 225°C, See page 116
without forming pearlite or 2
bainite first.
• It is the hardest of all steel
crystal structures.
• As-quenched it has very high
strength, but has very low
fracture resistance, or This is what it looks like
3
toughness. under 500X magnification

The
TheTTT
TTTcurves
curves are
are also
alsoaffected
affectedby
bythe
the alloy
alloycontent
content 4340
4340TTT
TTT
diagram
diagram
4340: a Molybdenum - Chromium - Nickel

Can see a tendency

to retain austenite;
which occurs in
stainless steels

Quenching
Quenching&& Tempering;
Tempering; some
somestrategies
strategies Examplesof
Examples of Steel
Steel Crystal
Crystal Structures
Structures
• Bainite forms at temperatures below
those where pearlite forms. It is
usually a result of following a cooling
pattern with strategic periods of
quenching at critical times; bainite has
a lower internal residual stress
• Upper bainite is softer than lower
bainite

• The top figure shows dark patches of

upper bainite which has formed in 4150
steel

• The bottom figure shows dark plates

or needles of lower bainite formed in a
4150 steel
• Bainite is generally stronger and more
ductile than a pearlite structure

4
 Atomic
Atomicmodels
modelsof
ofthree
threestructures
structures

Some
Some effects
effectsof
oftempering
tempering
Tempering
Tempering
• This consists of reheating the steel to a given
temperature to allow formation of one or a combination of
the following:
cementite,
ferrite, 1045 steel
spheroidization [clustering of carbon atoms],
carbides in the case of alloying elements, Note: drawing
temperature is the
new microstructures (such as bainite or pearlite) same as tempering
• The chief goal of tempering is to toughen the steel and temperature
decrease its brittleness
• a tempering stage is often applied in the case of
martensitic steels

Classification
Classification of
of Steels
Steels Examples of steels: xx indicates the carbon content

Various countries adopt their own

standards for classifying steels
In North America the four digit system of
the AISI and SAE is used
• In the SAE and AISI methods of numbering

the first two numbers indicate the level of alloying

the last two digits indicate carbon content in

hundredths of a percent by weight

5
Thank
Thank you
you for
for your
your attention
attention