Annealing, Stress Releiving,

Normalizing, Hardening, and

Tempering of Steel
Chapter 10
Heat Treatment
In the process of forming steel into shape
and producing the desired microstructure to
achieve the required mechanical properties,
it may be reheated and cooled several times.
Steps for all HT (anneals):
1. Heating
2. Holding or “soaking”
3. Cooling

Time and temperature are important

at all 3 steps
(Stress-relief)
Full Annealing
heats the steel to a temperature within the
austenite (FCC, γ) phase region to dissolve
the carbon. (50 deg.F above A3-Acm line)
The temperature is kept at the bottom of this
range to minimize growth of the austenitic
grains. Then, after cooling ferrite () and
cementite structures will be fine as well
Resulting microstructure:
For low-medium carbon steels – coarse
pearlite and ferrite
It is easily machined
Why hyperetectoid steels are
annealed intercritically?
To prevent formation of brittle cementite
network on the grain boundaries
This is undesirable condition if machining
is to be done
Annealing is performed at temperatures
between the critical lines A3,1-Acm
Spheroidizing – improving
machinability
Used on steels with carbon contents above 0.5%
Applied when more softness is needed
Cementite transforms into globes, or spheroids
These spheroids act as chip-breakers – easy
machining
Performed by heating to just below A3,1 line,
holding there (about 20h.or more) and then slowly
cooling
Normalizing
Allows steels to cool
more rapidly, in air
Produced structure –
fine pearlite
Faster cooling
provides higher
strength than at full
annealing
Process Annealing – 3 stages
Recovery (stress-relief anneals)
Recrystallization (process anneals)
Grain Growth
Stress-relief Annealing
Heats the steel to just below the eutectoid
transformation temperature (A1) to remove
the effects of prior cold work and grain
deformation.
This allows further forging or rolling
operations.
Stresses may result from:
Plastic deformation (cold work, machining)
Non-uniform heating (ex. welding)
Phase transformation (quenching)
Stress-relief:
Is held at fairly low temperature
Is held for a fairly short time
So that recrystallization does not occur
Recovery (Stress-relief)
If you only add a small amount of thermal
energy (heat it up at little) the dislocations
rearrange themselves into networks to
relieve residual stresses
Ductility is improved
Strength does not change
TS and elongation
Recrystallization
Add more heat and wait some more time,
and new grains start to grow at the grain
boundaries.
The new grains have not been strain
hardened
The recrystallized metal is ductile and has
low strength
How much time to wait?
Incubation period – time needed to
accumulate stored energy from the lattice
strain and heat energy
Then lattice starts to recrystallize
At first fast (lots of nucleation sites)
Slower at the end
How hot is hot?
Most metals have a recrystallization
temperature equal to about 40% of the
melting point

Tr  0.4Tm , 
K
Higher is the temperature – less amount of CW is
needed to start recrystallization
Critical CW – the amount when recrystallization
cannot happen
Higher is amount of CW- smaller is grain size, no
matter what was the temperature
Minor factors for recrystallization
Pure metal
If an alloy – host atom – solvent
foreign atom – solute
Solute atoms inhibit dislocations motion, higher
temperature is needed
Insoluble impurities (oxides and gases) become
nucleation sites and refine grains
Smaller initial grain size will recrystallize easier –
at less temperature and time
Grain Growth
If you keep the metal hot too long, or heat it
up too much, the grains become large
Usually not good
Low strength
Size of grains vs. temperature
G
R
A
I
N

S
I
Z
E
200 400 600
Temperature, deg.C
 Microscope images show:  

Cold rolled steel recrystallized after Grain growth after

90% reduction 2 min.at 830°C 2min @ 930°C.
Grain-Growth is not recommended
mainly because:
Energy consumption
Need of expensive equipment
Large grain metals get surface distortion
under tensile forces
Quenching media
Involves the principles of heat transfer
See procedures in ASM Metals Handbook
There are 9 possible choices (air, furnace,
tap water, oil, brine etc.)
3 stages of quenching
Vapor blanket
Vapor transport cooling
Liquid cooling
What is important?
Improved cooling rate (dT/dt) to beat the
nose of the S-curve
Agitate the quenchant – reduce the time
spend at the vapor blanket stage
Chose the best fit of quenching media
Consider S/V ratio
Tempering (drawing)
Heating and holding steel below A1 line and
slow cooling to room temperature (1 temper
cycle)
Done in the range 150-650˚C
Temper brittleness should be avoided (loss
of toughness at higher tempering
temperature). Can be avoided by quenching
from the tempering temperature
Martempering (Martquenching)
Martempering permits the transformation of
Austenite to Martensite to take place at the same
time throughout the structure of the metal part.
By using interrupted quench, the cooling is
stopped at a point above the martensite
transformation region to allow sufficient time for
the center to cool to the same temperature as the
surface.
Then cooling is continued through the martensite
region, followed by the usual tempering.
Special Tempering
Problem of retained austenite
That gives us untempered martensite
2 or 3 cycle tempering is a solution
That gives us total of tempered martensite
Different tempered martensites will have
different hardness
Austempering
The austemper process offers benefits over
the more conventional oil quench and
temper method of heat treating springs and
stampings that requires the uppermost in
distortion control.
How to austemper?
Quench the part from the proper austentizing
temperature directly into a liquid salt bath at a
temperature between 590 to 710 degrees
Farenheit.
Hold at this quench temperature for a
recommended time to transform the Austenite into
Bainite.
Air cool to room temperature.
End product is 100% bainite
Advantages of Austempering:
Less Distortion
Greater Ductility
Parts are plater friendly due to the clean surface
from the salt quench
Uniform and consistent Hardness
Tougher and More Wear Resistant
Higher Impact and Fatigue Strengths
Resistance to Hydrogen Embrittlement
You should use the Austempering
process if:
Material used: SAE 1050 to 1095, 4130,
4140
Material thickness between 0.008 and 0.150
inches.
Hardness requirements needed in between
HRC 38-52
Limitations of Austempering:
Austempering can be applied to parts where
the transformation to pearlite can be
avoided.
This means that the section must be cooled
fast enough to avoid the formation of
pearlite. Thin sections can be cooled faster
than the bulky sections.