Department of

Materials I Energy

Lecturer: Van Tang NGUYEN

Email: nguyen-van.tang@usth.edu.vn
 Chapter 5

Thermal Processing of Metals

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Definition

Heat treatment in which a material is exposed to an elevated temperature for an

extended time period and then slowly cooled

Purpose:

relieve stresses

increase softness, ductility, and toughness

produce a specific microstructure

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Any annealing process consists of three stages

(1) heating to the desired temperature

(2) holding or “soaking” at that temperature

(3) cooling, usually to room temperature

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Time is an important parameter in these procedures

During heating and cooling, there exist temperature gradients between the
outside and interior portions of the piece

their magnitudes depend on the size and geometry of the piece

If the rate of temperature change is too great, temperature gradients and

internal stresses may be induced that may lead to warping or even cracking

Annealing temperature is also an important consideration; annealing may

be accelerated by increasing the temperature, since diffusional processes
are normally involved
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Annealing of Ferrous Alloys

Several different annealing procedures are employed to enhance the properties of

steel alloys

 Normalizing

 Full Anneal

 Spheroidizing

 Process Annealing

 Harndening

 Tempering
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A1 is termed the lower critical

temperature, below which, under
equilibrium conditions, all austenite will
have transformed into ferrite and
cementite phases

A3 and Acm represent the upper critical

temperature lines, for hypoeutectoid
and hypereutectoid steels, respectively.
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Normalizing

An annealing heat treatment called normalizing is used to refine the grains (i.e.,
to decrease the average grain size) and produce a more uniform and desirable
size distribution

For example: Steels that have been plastically deformed by, for example, a rolling
operation, consist of grains of pearlite which are irregularly shaped and relatively
large, but vary substantially in size

Since fine-grained pearlitic steels are tougher than coarse-grained ones

 use normalizing heat treatment

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Normalizing

Normalizing is accomplished by
heating at least 55oC above the
upper critical temperature

After sufficient time has been allowed

for the alloy to completely transform
to austenite—a procedure termed
austenitizing—the treatment is
terminated by cooling in air
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Full Anneal

A heat treatment known as full annealing is often utilized in low- and

medium-carbon steels that will be machined or will experience extensive plastic
deformation during a forming operation

In general, the alloy is treated by heating to a temperature of about 50 oC above A3

line (to form austenite) for compositions less than the eutectoid, or, for compositions
in excess of the eutectoid, 50 oC above A1 line

The alloy is then furnace cooled; that is, the heat-treating furnace is turned off and
both furnace and steel cool to room temperature at the same rate, which takes
several hours

The microstructural product of this anneal is coarse pearlite, that is relatively

soft and ductile.
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Spheroidizing

Spheroidizing is a process of heating and cooling steel that produces a rounded

or globular form of carbide in a matrix of ferrite.

Spheroidized steels have a maximum softness

and ductility and are easily machined or
deformed

Spheroidizing anneal
The spheroidizing heat treatment, during
which there is a coalescence of the Fe3C to
form the spheroid particles
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Spheroidizing

Example:

Heating the alloy at a temperature just below the eutectoid (line A1) or about 700
oC in the α + Fe C region of the phase diagram. If the precursor microstructure
3
contains pearlite, spheroidizing times will ordinarily range between 15 and 25 h.

Heating to a temperature just above the eutectoid temperature, and then either
cooling very slowly in the furnace, or holding at a temperature just below the
eutectoid temperature

Heating and cooling alternately within about ± 50oC of the A1 line.

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Process Annealing

Process annealing, frequently termed stress-relief annealing, is usually applied to

cold-worked low carbon steels (up to about 0.25% of carbon) to soften the steel
sufficiently to allow further cold-working.

The steel is usually heated close to, but

below, the A1 temperature

If the steel is not to be further cold-worked,

but relief of internal stresses is desired, a
lower range of temperature will suflSce Process Spheroidizing anneal

(about 1,000 °F). Rate of cooling is anneal

immaterial.
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Process Annealing

This type of anneal will cause recrystallization and softening of the cold-worked ferrite
grains, but usually will not affect the relatively small amounts of cold-worked pearlite

Low carbon steel (0.1% C)
as cold-worked.
Both ferrite (light) and
pearlite (dark) are severely
deformed.
Same as (A) after process
annealing at 1.200° F.
The ferrite is recrystallized
Pearlite is not affected by
this treatment.
Same as (A) after full
annealing at 1.650° F.
All traces of cold working are
eliminated, and the ferrite
grains are larger than in (B)
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Hardening

The influence of alloy composition on the ability of a steel alloy to transform to

martensite for a particular quenching treatment is related to a parameter
called hardenability

“Hardenability” is a term that is used to describe the ability of an alloy to be

hardened by the formation of martensite as a result of a given heat treatment

Hardenability is not “hardness,” which is the resistance to indentation

A steel alloy that has a high hardenability is one that hardens, or forms
martensite, not only at the surface but to a large degree throughout the entire
interior
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Hardening

• Steels can be hardened by the simple expedient of heating to above the A3

transformation, holding long enough to insure the attainment of uniform
temperature and solution of carbon in the austenite, then cooling rapidly
(quenching)

• Complete hardening depends on cooling so

rapidly that the austenite, which otherwise
would decompose on cooling through the
A1, is maintained to relatively low
temperatures.

• When this is accomplished, the austenite Spheroidizing anneal

transforms to martensite on cooling
through the Ms — Mf range.
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Hardening

The maximum hardness that can be obtained in completely hardened low-

alloy and plain carbon structural steels depends primarily on the carbon
content.

The relationship of maximum hardness to carbon content

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Effect of Mass

• Formation of martensite is influenced by effect of mass

• It must be realized that even with a sample of relatively sm.all dimensions,

the rate of abstraction of heat is not uniform.

• Heat is always abstracted from the surface layers at a faster rate than from
the interior

• In a given cooling medium the cooling rate of both the surface and interior
decreases as the dimensions of a sample increase and the possibility of
exceeding the critical cooling rate become less
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Effect of Mass

The marked effect that mass has upon the hardness of quenched steel may be
illustrated by measuring the hardness distribution of different size rounds of the
same steel quenched in the same medium

Curves showing the distribution of hardness in a

series of round bars of different sizes of 0.5-
percent-carbon steel are shown

Only the ½ in. round hardened completely

through the cross section, whereas with the 4-
in. round the critical cooling rate was not
attained even at the surface.
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Tempering

• Tempering is usually performed after hardening, to reduce some of the excess

hardness, and is done by heating the metal to some temperature below the
critical point for a certain period of time, then allowing it to cool in still air

• The rate of cooling is immaterial

except for some steels that are
susceptible to temper brittleness.

Spheroidizing anneal
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Tempering

As the tempering temperature is increased, the martensite (fig. A) of hardened

steel passes through stages of tempered martensite (fig. B and C)
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Tempering

• and is gradually changed into a structure consisting of spheroids of cementite

in a matrix of ferrite, formerly termed sorbite.

• These changes are accompanied by a decreasing hardness and increasing

toughness.

• The tempering temperature depends upon the desired properties and the
purpose for which the steel is to be used.

• If considerable hardness is necessary, the tempering temperature should be

low; if considerable toughness is required, the tempering temperature should
be high
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Tempering

Effect of time at tempering

Effect of tempering temperature on the temperature on the hardness of
hardness of carbon steels of different 0.8-percent-carbon steel
carbon content.