HEAT TREATMENT

Purpose of Heat treatment:

To improve machinability.

To refine grain size.

To relieve the internal stresses of the metal

induced during cold / hot working.
 To improve mechanical properties like
strength, hardness etc.

To improve magnetic & electrical properties.

To increase resistance to wear, heat, &

corrosion.
 ALLOTROPIC FORM

When a material posses the property which

permit them to exists in various form
without a change in the chemical
composition is said to be Allotropic.

For example:
Carbon exists in three forms – diamond,
graphite, & charcoal.
 Similarly iron exists in three forms – alpha,
beta, & gamma iron.

alpha beta BCC

Normal temp 1400º F 1652º F GAMMA
BCC FCC above
 METAL STRUCTURE

In a unit cell of
bcc lattice, there
BCC Structure
are nine atoms.
E.g- Cr, Mn,V

In a unit cell of
FCC Structure fcc lattice, there
are 14 atoms.
E.g- Al, Cu,Ni
 In a unit cell of
cphl, lattice,
Closed packed there are 17
Hexagonal atoms.
lattice
E.g- Mg, Zn, Co,
Cd, Bi, Be
Internal Structure of Steel
 INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF STEEL

Internal Structure of Steel is dependent upon

iron and carbon percentage.

Carbon reacts with iron to form iron carbide

which is called cementite.

Cementite forms a perfect mixture with pure

iron (called ferrite) which is known as pearlite.
Pearlite is a mechanical mixture of 6 part of
ferrite and 1 part of cementite.

Steel < 0.85% C, Steel composed of Pearlite

and excess ferrite- Hypo - eutectoid

Steel > 0.85% C, Steel composed of Pearlite

and excess Cementite – hyper – eutectoid.
IRON CARBON DIAGRAM
 IRON CARBON DIAGRAM

FERRITE

CEMENTITE

PEARLITE

MARTENSITE
AUSTENITE

TROOSITE

SORBITE

LEDEBURITE

BAINITE
T-T-T DIAGRAM
 THEORY OF HEAT TREATMENT

HARDENING

Heating process in which steel is heated to

20°C above the transformation range, keep it
for sometime followed by cooling to room
temp by quenching in oil, water or brine
solution.
PURPOSE:

To harden the steel

To enable the steel to cut other metal.

TEMPERING:

2nd operation to develop high strength of steel.

Reheat process which is carried out under sub

critical temp.,soaking and then quenching in
oil or air.
PURPOSE:

To relieve the internal stress of the metal

Toughness & ductility improves at the

expense of hardness.
 ANNEALING

Softening process in which steel is heated

above the transformation range, cool slowly
below the transformation range in the
furnace itself.

PURPOSE

To soften metal for cold working.

Reduce hardness & improve machinability.

Refine grain size & increase ductility.

Prepare steel for subsequent heat treatment.

Relieve internal stress.

Produce a desired micro-structure.

 ANNELING

Process annealing Spherodizing Shop Annealing

PROCESS ANNEALING

Steel is heated below the Transformation

Range between 1020 º to 1200 ºF. commonly
used for wire and sheet industry.
 SPHERODIZING

Here high carbon steel are heated 20 – 40ºC

below the lower critical temperature, keep
it for some time and cool slowly at the
furnace itself.
 SHOP ANNEALING

Steel is heated with a welding torch at

900 ºF – 1000ºF, cover it in a pail of ashes
or lime to restrict the cooling rates.
 NORMALIZING

Steel are heated 40 – 50 º C above the upper

transformation range, held it for some time
followed by cooling in air to room temp.

Purposes

To eliminate coarse grain structure.

To increase the strength of Medium

Carbon Steel.
Improve machinability of Low Carbon Steel.

Improve structure of welds.

Reduce internal stresses.

Desired mechanical and electrical property.

 ANALYSIS OF PRACTICAL HEAT
TREATMENT

HEATING

Following points have to be taken into

account before going for practical heat
treatment-

Type of furnace used.

Medium of quenching.

Time of heating as well as cooling.

Temp control devices (Thermostats).

Hot metal handling.

 SOAKING

Complete rearrangement of internal

structure is obtained.

Soaking time depends upon type of steel,

size, & nature of steel.

Steel which is used for a/c construction

normally requires 30-40 mins.
 QUENCHING

An operation that provides the rapid

cooling of steel from a high temp at
which the steel is austenite state, to some
lower temp.

Such cooling if rapid enough, will result

steel becoming much harder and
stronger.
Cooling is obtained in quenching bath
which contains air, water, brines, various
kind of oil and molten metal such as lead
and tin.

Quenching oil is normally maintained

between 80-150 º F , if water is used in
the quenching medium, temp is held
below 65 º F.
Cr-Ni steel must be quenched in oil, not air, in
order to avoid “temper brittleness”.

COLOUR & TEMP USED FOR

TEMPERING

Blue 300ºC Springs

Purple 295ºC Axles, Screw drivers

Purple brown 285ºC Chisels, Haksaw
blade

Brown 270ºC General carpenter

tools

Golden yellow 250ºC Taps, dies, punches

Straw 240ºC Drills, Milling

cutters

Pale yellow 200ºC Scrapers

 SURFACE HARDENING

CYANIDING

Process in which both Carbon and Nitrogen

in the form of cyaniding salt are added to the
surface of Low Carbon Steel to increase
hardness and wear resistance.

Also used for increasing fatigue limit of small

size parts such as gears & shafts.
Cyaniding bath consists of sodium or potassium
cyanide, maintain at 1550 º -1600 º F.

Job is pre heated at 750 º F, dip in the bath for

10-20 mins followed by quenching in water.

DISADVANTAGE

High cost, toxicity of the salt & fumes are

extremely poisonous. (Seldom used in Aircraft
work)
 NITRIDING

Process of saturating the surface of steel with

Nitrogen by holding it for a prolonged period
at a definite temp in a atmosphere of
ammonia.

Heat the steel to 950 º F in atmosphere of

ammonia from 50-100 hrs, hot ammonia gas
is passed continuously & approximate Depth
of penetration from 0.005-0.015”.
CASE HARDENING (CARBURIZING)

Process is used to produce a high surface

hardness for wear resistance supported by a
tough shock resisting core.

Purpose

To obtain hard & wear resistance

surface.

To obtain a tough core.

To obtain a close tolerance in machining
parts.

To obtain a higher fatigue limit.

 Carburizing

Solid Carburizing Liquid Gas

Carburizing Carburizing
 Solid Carburizing
Dense carburizer

40 mm
Job
20 mm
Carburizer
Steel Box 40 mm
Depth of case Time at 1650º F

1/64” 1 hr

1/32” 2 hrs

3/64” 4 hrs

1/16” 6 hrs

1/8” 16 hrs
 LIQUID CARBURIZING

Carburizing is done in a salt bath & applied

for small job.

Uniform hardness at a faster rate can be

achieved.
 GAS CARBURIZING

Here gas is used as the carburizing medium.

Small jobs are exposed in a rotating chamber

full of gaseous carburizer.

Chance of damage to the corner.

Solid carburizer may also added some time
to enrich the carburizing medium.

Now a days, electric furnace are also used

with a carburization atmosphere in which
the parts remains stationary.
 INDUCTION HARDENING

Purpose is to obtain hard & wear resistance

surface where the core remains soft.

Process of heating metallic substances by

means of a powerful rapidly alternating
electromagnetic field.
A high frequency current of about
1000 – 10000 c/s is passed through a
copper inductor which acts as a primary
coil of the transformer.

The parts to be heated is placed in the

conductor coil which comprises of 1 to
several turns of copper tube.
When AC is passed through the inductor is
sets up a magnetic field in which the
magnetic lines passes through the surface
of the job & induced in the surface an AC
of the same frequency but in opposite
direction which produces heat effect.
 DIELECTRIC HEATING

Same as induction heating but applicable

for non conducting material like electric
insulation material, plastic & compressed
wood.

Dielectric heating is done by placing the job

between 2 plates.
When current is applied, the surface heat is
transmitted by conduction almost
instantaneously to inner core of the
material.

To permit dissipation of heat without

raising the core temp., it is necessary to
have sufficient core material.

It will uniformly heat the material from the

surface to the center.
 FLAME HARDENING

It is based on rapid heating and quenching.

Heating is done by oxyacetylene flame.

Quenching is achieved by spraying of water.

The jets of water & flame remains fixed in 1
position & the works keeps on moving at a
calculated grade rate.
 SHOT – PEENING

Used for improving the fatigue & abrasion

resistance of metal.

Applicable for ferrous & non-ferrous parts.

Process consists of throwing hardened steel

ball at the surface of the work to be peened.
The steel ball are thrown against the work
surface either by compressed air or by
centrifugal force as the shot is fired from a
rotating wheel.

Shot-peening leaves the surface with

indentation & this indentation has to be
replaced by stretching in every direction.

Can be applied for gear teeth, helical springs,

universal joints, axles, bearings.
The magnitude of the process can be varied
as follows:

Size of the shot.

Hardness of the shot.

Speed of the shot.

Length of the time the job is exposed to

shot.
 TEMPERING A CHISEL : (SINGLE
HEATING METHOD)

Heat the cutting edge of chisel to cherry red

colour.

Dip it vertically in the water about 1” from the

cutting edge.

Move up and down to avoid water breakage.

Watch the oxide colour passing from the hot
area to the tip side.

When purple brown colour appears in the

cutting edge, dip the whole chisel in the water.

Polish the edge with emery paper or sand

stone.
 TEMPERING A CHISEL : (DOUBLE
HEATING METHOD)

Heat the chisel to cherry red colour & dip in

the water.

Heat the cutting edge to purple brown & dip

in the water & polish.