Hardening and Tempering Hardening is process in which steel is heated to a temperature above the critical point, held at this

temperature and quenched (rapidly cooled) in water, oil or molten salt baths. As earlier mentioned that if a piece of steel is heated above its upper critical temperature and plunged into water to cool it an extremely hard, needle-shaped structure known as martensite is formed. In other words, sudden quenching of steel greatly increases its hardness. After hardening steel must be tempered to: 1.reduce a brittleness, 2.reliev e the internal stresses, and 3.obtain pre-determined mechanical properties. The hardening process is based on a very important metallurgical reaction of decomposition of eutectoid. This reaction is dependent upon the following factors: 1.Adecuate carbon content to produce hardening. 2.Austenite decomposition to produce pearlite , bainite and martensite structures. 3.Heating rate and time. 4.Quenching medium. 5.Quenching rate. 6.Size of the part. 7.Surface conditions. The rapidly with which the heat is absorbed by the quenching bath has a considerable effect on the hardness of the metal. Clear, cold water is very oftenly used, while the addition of salt still increases degree of hardness.oil, however , gives the best balance between hardness toughness and distortion for standard steels.

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 In order to increase the cooling rate the parts may be moved around the quenching bath, either by hand, or by passing them through the tank in basket attached to mechanical conveyer. Large parts may be lowered into the tank by a crane and kept moving while cooling. It is often cheaper and more efficient, however , to circulate the cooling liquid around the hot part. The heating rate and heating time depend on the composition of the steel, its structure, residual stresses, the form and size of the part to be hardened, the more the intricate and large the part being hardened, the slower it should be heated to avoid stresses due to temperature differences between the internal and external layers of the metal, warping, and even cracking. The practically attainable heating rate depends upon the thermal capacity of the furnace, the bulk of the changed parts, their arrangement in the furnace, and other factors. The heating rate is usually reduced, not by reducing the furnace temperature but by preheating the articles. The heating time for carbon tool steels and medium-alloy structural steels should be from 25 to 30% more than for carbon structural steels. The heating time for high-alloy structural and tool steels should be from 50 to 100% higher. When steel is exposed to an oxidizing atmosphere, because of the presence of water vapor or oxygen in the furnace, a layer of iron oxide called (scale) is formed. Thin layer of scale has very little effect on cooling rate, but that a thick layer of oxide (0.005 in. deep) retord the actual cooling rate.

Quenching media The quenching media in general use are : Water, Brine, Oils, Air, Molten salt. Water : it is probably the most widely used as it simple and effective, it cools at the rate of 982C per second. It tends, however, to form bubbles on the surface of the metal being quenched an causes soft spots, so a brine solution is often used to prevent this trouble.

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Brine : it is very rapid cooling agent and may tend to cause distortion of the parts , as will water. Oil : it is used when there is any risk of distortion although it is more suitable for alloy steels than plain carbon steels. Air blast : when the risk of distortion is great, quenching must be carried out air blast. Since the rate of cooling is then lower, more hardening elements must be added to the steel , forming an air-hardening alloy. The air blast must be dry, since any moisture in the air will crack the steel. Molten salts : high speed steels are often quenched in molten salt to hardened them. Note : hypo-eutectoid steel containing very little carbon, say less than 0.25%, cannot be easily hardened by sudden quenching because of large amount of soft ferrite which is contains and all of which cannot be retained in solution even on very quick cooling. The hardening capacity of steel increases with carbon content. Hardening methods The most extensively used method is conventional hardening or quenching in a single medium. The disadvantage of this method, however, is that the cooling rate in the transformation range will be very high. It will differ only slightly from the rate on the upper zone of supercooled austenite of low stability and, therefore, cracks, distortion and other defects may occur in this method. Conventional Heat, Quench and Temper Process: In this process, Austenite is transformed to Martensite as a result of rapid quench from furnace to room temperature. Then, martensite is heated to a temperature which gives the desired hardness. One serious drawback is the possibility of distorting and cracking the metal as a result of severe quenching required to form Martensite without transforming any of the austenite to pearlite. During quenching process, the outer area is cooled quicker than the center. Thinner parts are cooled faster than parts with greater cross-sectional areas. What this means is that transformations of the Austenite are proceeding at different rates. As the metal cools, it also contracts and its microstructure occupies less volume. ]
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Extreme variations in size of metal parts complicate the work of the heat treater and should be avoided in the designing of metal parts. This means there is a limit to the overall size of parts that can be subjected to such thermal processing. (Figure2.24) shows the conventional hardening, tempering process.

Figure 2.24 Conventional quenching and tempering process.

Other hardening method, which shall be briefly described, are generally employed to avoid these defects ad to obtain the required properties. The various hardening method are: 1. Quenching in two media. 2. Hardening with self tempering. 3. Stepped quenching or martempering. 4. Isotermal quenching or austempering.
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1.Quenching in two media: Articles hardening by this method are first quenched in water to a temperature from 300C to 400C and then quickly transferred to a less intensive quenching medium (for example oil or air) where they are held until they are completely cooled. The purpose of the transfer to the second quenching is to reduce internal stresses associated with the austenite to martensite transformation. It is not advisable to quench first in water and then in oil as this may lead to partial decomposition of the austenite in its zone of the least stability (500C to 600C) and to the development of high residual stresses due to rapid cooling in martensite transformation range. Quenching in two media is widely employed in the heat treatment of carbon steel tools (taps, dies, milling cutters etc.) of a shape unfavourable as cracking and warping. 2.Hardening with self tempering: Here the article is held in the quenching medium until it is completely cooled but is withdrawn to retain a certain amount of heat in core which accounts for the tempering (self tempering). Frequently, more heat is retained in the core than is required for tempering and, when the tempering temperature is reached, the article is reimmersed in the quenching liquid. This hardening is applied for chisels, sledge hammers, hand hammers, centre punches, and other tools that require a high surface hardness in conjunction with tough core. 3.Stepped quenching or martempering: After heating the steel to a hardening temperature, it is quenched in the medium having a temperature, from 150C to 300C. the article is held until it reaches the temperature of medium and then its cooled further to room temperature in air and sometimes in oil, the holding time in the quenching bath should be sufficient to enable a uniform temperature to be reached throughout the cross section but long enough to cause austenitic decomposition. Austenite is transformed into martensite during the subsequent period of cooling to room temperature.
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This treatment will provide a structure of martensite and retained austenite in the hardened steel. (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) [Figure 2.25 ] .

Figure 2.25 Martempering process.

Retained austenite there is a large volume expansion when martensite forms from austenite. as the martensite plates form during quenching, they surround and isolate small pools of austenite (Figure 2.26), which deform to accommodate the lower density martensite. However, for the remaining pools of austenite to transform, the surrounding martensite must deform. Because the strong martensite resist the transformation, either the existing martensite cracks or the austenite remains trapped in the structure as retained austenite.

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Figure 2.26 Retained austenite (white) trapped between martensite needles (black) ( 1000).

Retained austenite can be a serious problem. Martensite softens and become more ductile during tempering. After tempering, the retained austenite cools below the Ms and Mf temperatures and transforms to martensite, since the surrounding tempered martensite can deform. But now the steel contains more of the hard, brittle martensite. A second tempering step may be needed to eliminate the martensite formed from the retained austenite. Retained austenite is also more of a problem high carbon steels. The martensite stars and finish temperatures are reduced when the carbon content increases (Figure2.27). High carbon steels must be refrigerated to produce all martensite.

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Figure 2.27 Increasing carbon reduces the Ms and Mf temperatures in plain-carbon steels.

Residual stresses and cracking residual stresses are also produced because of the volume change or because of cold working. A stress relief anneal can be used to remove or minimize residual stresses due to cold working. Stresses are also induced because of thermal expansion and contraction. In steels, there is one more mechanism that causes stress. When steels are quenched, the surface of the quenched steel cools rapidly and transforms to martensite. When the austenite in the center later transforms, the hard surface is placed in tension, while the center is compressed. If the residual stresses exceed the yield strength, quench cracks form at the surface (Figure 2.28)

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Figure 2.28 Formation of quench cracks caused by residual stresses produced during quenching. The figure illustrates the development of stresses as the austenite transforms to martensite during cooling.

Martempering quenching:

has

the

following

advantages

over

conventional

1. less volume changes occur due to the presence of a large amount of retained austenite and possibility of self tempering of the martensite. 2. less warping since the transformations occur simultaneously in all parts of the article. 3. less danger of quenching cracks appearing in the articles. On the other hand, the extremely low solubility of austenite in this range from 500 to 600C requires a cooling rate of 200 to 500C per second in this range to obtain supercooling. at the same time, cooling in hot media is much slower than in water or oil at room temperature therefore, austenite in carbon steel can be cooled through the zone from 600 to 500C, without decomposition, only in thin articles (upto 5.8 mm I thickness). Such articles are expediently hardened by this method. Alloy steel articles hardened by this method, may be considerably thicker.
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4. Isothermal quenching or austempering: This is the second method that can be used to overcome the restrictions of conventional quench and tempering. The quench is interrupted at a higher temperature than for Martempering to allow the metal at the center of the part to reach the same temperature as the surface. By maintaining that temperature, both the center and the surface are allowed to transform to Bainite and are then cooled to room temperature ( Figure 2.29).

Advantages of Austempering: (1) Less distortion and cracking than martempering, (2) No need for final tempering (less time consuming and more energy efficient) (3) Improvement of toughness (impact resistance is higher than the conventional quench and tempering) (4) Improved ductility

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. Most industrial applications of austempering have been limited to sections less than 1/2 in. thick. The thickness can be increased by the use of alloy steels, but then the time for completion of transformation to bainite may become excessive.

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Figure 2.29 Austempering process. In Austempering process, the end product is 100% bainite. It is accomplished by first heating the part to the properr austenitizing temperature followed by cooling rapidly in a slat bath which is maintained between 400 and 800 oF. The part is left in the bath until the transformation to bainite is complete. The steel is caused to go directly from austenite to bainite. Quench rate In using the TTT diagram, we assume that we could cool from the austenitizing temperature to the transformation temperature instantly. because this does not occur in practice, undesired microconstituents may form during the quenching process. For example, pearlite may forms as steel cools past the nose of the curve, particularly because the time of the nose is less than one second in plain carbon steels. The rate at which the steel cools during quenching depends on several factors. First, the surface cools faster than the center of the part. In addition, as the size of the part increases, the cooling rate at any location is slower. Finally, the cooling rate depends on the temperature and heat transfer characteristics of the quenching medium (Table 2.2 ).
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Quenching in oil, for example, produces a lower H coefficient, or slower cooling rate, than quenching in water and brine. The H coefficient is equivalent to the heat transfer coefficient. Agitation helps break the vapor blanket (e.g., when water is the quenching medium) and improves overall heat transfer rate by bringing cooler liquid into contact with the parts being quenched.

Sub-zero treatment The resultant microstructure of a fully hardened steel should consist of martensite. In practice, it is very difficult to have completely martensitic structure by hardening treatment. Some amount of austenite is generally present in the hardened steel. This austenite existing along with martensite is referred to as retained austenite. The presence of retained austenite greatly reduced mechanical properties and such steels do not develop maximum hardness even after cooling at rates higher than the critical cooling rate. The amount of retained austenite depends largely on the chemical composition of steel. For plain carbon steels, the amount of retained austenite increases with the rise in carbon contents.

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The problem of retained austenite is more complex in alloy steels. Most of the alloying elements increase the content of retained austenite. In hardened steels containing retained austenite, the strength can be improved by process known as sub-zero treatment or cold treatment. Retained austenite is converted into martensite by this treatment. This conversion of retained austenite into martensite results in increased hardness, wear resistance and dimensional stability of steel. The process consist of cooling steel to sub-zero temperature which should be lower than Mf temperature of the steel. Mf temperature for most steels lie between -30C and -70C. During the process, considerable amount of internal stresses are developed in the steel, and hence tempering is done immediately after the treatment. This treatment also helps to temper martensite which is formed by decomposition of retained austenite during subzero treatment. Sub-zero treatment must be performed first after the hardening treatment. Mechanical refrigeration units, dry ice, and some liquefied gases such as liquid nitrogen can be used for cooling steels to sub-zero temperature. This treatment is employed for : high carbon and high alloy steels used for making tools, bearings, measuring gauges and components requiring high impact and fatigue strength coupled with dimensional stability-case hardened steels.

Example 2.4 Design of a Quench and Temper Treatment A rotating shaft that delivers power from an electric motor is made from a 1050 steel. Its yield strength should be at least 145,000 psi, yet it should also have at least 15% elongation in order to provide toughness. Design a heat treatment to produce this part. Solution: We are not able to obtain this combination of properties by annealing or normalizing (Figure2.23). however a quench and temper heat treatment produces Aa microstructure that can provide both strength and toughness.
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(Figure2.30) shows that the yield strength exceeds 145.000 psi if the steel is tempered below 460oC, whereas the elongation exceeds 15% if tempering is done above 425oC. The A3 temperature for the steel is 770oC. A possible heat treatment is: 1. Austenitize above the A3 temperature of 770oC for 1 h. An appropriate temperature may be 770 + 55 = 825oC. 2. Quench rapidly to room temperature. Since the Mf is about 250oC, martensite will form. 3. Temper by heating the steel to 440oC. Normally, 1 h will be sufficient if the steel is not too thick. 4.Cool to room temperature.

Figure 2.30 The effect of tempering temperature on the mechanical properties of a 1050 steel.
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