Lecture 27

Phase Transformations in Materials

Heat Treatment of Steels

26 October 2022

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The Fe-C Phase Diagram

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Just to refresh: What is pearlite?
Eutectoid reaction :
0.76wt.%C0.022wt.%CFe3C6.7wt.%C

• A lamellar mixture of ferrite

and cementite (Fe3C) that
resembles “Mother of Pearl”
when viewed under a
microscope.

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 What information do Phase Diagrams lack?

• Eutectoid reaction
Austenite (0.8%C) → Ferrite (0.02%C)+
Cementite (6.67%C)
• Crystal Structures
Austenite: FCC
Ferrite: BCC
Cementite: Orthorhombic.
• Diffusion (kinetics) clearly involved!
• How fast does this happen?
• Phase Diagrams – Based on
Thermodynamics alone.
• TTT Diagrams – tell us information about
kinetics.

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A “real” TTT Diagram for a 0.8 wt.% C steel

Austenite

Pearlite

Bainite

Martensite

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And why is the time factor important?

• Because the micro-

constituents or
phases that form
vary depending
upon the cooling
rate!
• And these do have
VERY different
properties!

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What is heat treatment?

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 TTT diagram for 0.8%C steel: Different cooling rates

• Similar to L-S transformation. Any

transformation needing a
thermodynamic driving force and an
atomic mobility factor will show C
curves.
• Below TE, austenite is metastable.
• Shows start and finish curves for
pearlite.
• Cooling curve 1 is annealing (slow
cooling)
• Cooling curve 2 is faster cooling
(normalizing).

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The difference between cooling curves (1) and (2)

From the previous slide, (1) and (2)

cross the TTT curve at different
temperatures, say T1 and T2.

The nucleation and growth rates are

correspondingly different, as shown
in the right schematic.

So, we should get a finer structure

for curve (2), i.e. normalizing.

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Refined pearlite at lower temperatures (faster cooling)
Increasing cooling rate →

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Next Heat Treatment: How to obtain
Martensite

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 The quenching treatment

• The red line denotes fast

cooling avoiding the pearlite
nose.
• Unlike the liquid-solid case,
metastable austenite is not
retained forever.
• Instead, a new phase,
martensite nucleates below
Ms .
• The transformation
completes at Mf.
• Martensite is a metastable
phase – hence not seen in
equilibrium phase diagrams!

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What is martensite?
• Martensite is an interstitial solid solution of C in Fe.
c/a ratio > 1
BCT Martensite
FCC Austenite

a
a
C atoms

Fe atoms 13
Formation of martensite plates from austenite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ5lVjYssko

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15
Video of Industrial Oil Quenching

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• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QOjMuI7V90
Why is heat treatment important?
A striking example: Ball bearing seizure
1%C 1.5%Cr Steel (AISI 52100)

https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/industrial-ball-bearing-18929964312.html

http://wikiscootia.wikidot.com/images:seized-bearing
Let’s first define hardness/softness

• The ability to resist plastic

deformation is called
hardness.
• It is usually proportional to
”strength” of metals, which is
defined as the maximum load
per unit area that the material
can sustain without breaking.

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Typical hardness of various microstructures in a 0.8% C steel

Hardness Microstructure
(HV)
900 Martensite
550 Bainite
400 Fine Pearlite
250 Coarse Pearlite

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Summary

• We have studied nucleation and growth phenomena

• Considered the overall transformation rate
• Deduced TTT diagrams from the above two points
• Got a glimpse of the applications of TTT diagrams.

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