Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction................................................................................................................ 2
What is Steel?............................................................................................................. 3
Heat Treatment of Carbon Steel.................................................................................3
What is heat treatment of steel?............................................................................. 3
Behaviour of steel when heated and cooled............................................................4
Heating................................................................................................................ 4
Cooling................................................................................................................. 4
Heat Treatment Processes used.............................................................................. 7
Annealing............................................................................................................. 7
Normalising.......................................................................................................... 7
Case Hardening.................................................................................................... 7
Tempering............................................................................................................ 8
Crystallization of Steel................................................................................................ 8
Conclusion.................................................................................................................. 9
Bibliography............................................................................................................. 10
INTRODUCTION
Metals are very important to the world as we know it today. Almost
everything we interact with today has some amount of metal incorporated
into its design. The buildings we live in, the chairs we sit on even our eating
utensils have some amount of metal in them. Of all the metals steel is one of
the most widely used and it is something that should not be overlooked when
studying metals.
This report will give a brief summary of:
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WHAT IS STEEL?
Simply put steel is a combination of Iron and Carbon (and other metals if
desired) in varying proportions. The amount of carbon that is mixed with the
steel changes the characteristics of the steel. Higher amounts of carbon
results in harder, more brittle steels with less ductility and malleability while
lower amounts of carbon results in a soft, weaker steels with higher ductility
and malleability. Steels with 0-0.18% of carbon are called Low-Carbon steels
and are very soft. Steels with 0.25-0.3% of carbon are called Mild steels
which are very common and are usually general purpose steels. Steels with
0.4-0.6% carbon are called Medium-Carbon steels. These are very strong and
tools which need to withstand a lot of force and pressure are made with
Medium-Carbon steel, for example, hammer heads. Steels with 0.7-1.4% of
carbon are known as High-Carbon steel and retains its strength under high
temperatures. Used for cutting tools such as lathes and drill bits.
COOLING
When steel is slowly cooled down austenite is converted into pearlite and ferrite or
cementite, depending on the amount of carbon in the steel. The point of
recalescence (similar to the point of decalescence) occurs at the lower critical point
is where the cooling is observed to pulse. Cooling can be speeded up by
quenching in oil or water. This action would cause the formation of martensite,
which is austenite and large amounts of ferrite or cementite. Steels that are cooled
this way are harder than steels that are slowly cooled, though this is sometimes
dependent on the amount of carbon.
Graphs were taken from: METALWORK TECHNOLOGY BY J.K.N SACKEY AND S.K.
AMOAKOHENE
Surface of Granular
Pearlite
Hyen)
(F. Osmond)
(E.
Martensite
(E. Hyen)
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Pictures were taken from: THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF IRON AND STEEL BY JOSEPH
WILLIAM MELLOR
CRYSTALLIZATION OF STEEL
This can also be referred to as recrystallization of steel. It the process by
which deformed grains in the steel are replaced by new undeformed grains
that grow until all the original grains have been entirely replaced.
Recrystallization of steel results in a reduction of the strength of the steel
and also a reduction in the hardness of the steel. This process is used by
industries to soften metals that have been previously cold worked making
them more ductile.
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
As seen in A above, the steel grains are deformed. In B the undeformed
grains are beginning to grow. In C the undeformed grains are still growing
and now most of the deformed grains are almost replaced. In D the deformed
grains have been fully replaced by the undeformed grains. Recrystallization
of steel is done by heating steel to a point below the lower critical point for
some period of time. The recrystallization temperature of the steel is
dependent upon prior processing, more specifically, the cold working
procedure used.
Picture
taken
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ricristallizzazione_e_accrescimento.svg
from:
CONCLUSION
As we can see the production of steel is not an easy venture. There are many
factors that one may need to consider and also there are many methods that
a person can use to produce steel and alter it. We can change some
properties of steel by exposing it to some form of heat treatment or through
chemical means by recrystallization. The methods that were discussed here
are just a fraction of the actual number of processes that exist.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cottrel, Alan. An Introduction to Metallurgy (2nd Edition). Redford Square, London:
Edward Arnold Publishers Ltd., 1975.
Mellor, Joseph William. The Crystallization of Iron and Steel. London: Longamans,
Green, and CO., 1905.
Sackey, J.K.N., and S.K. Amoakohene. Metalwork Technology. London: Macmillan
Education LTD, 1996.
Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia. 16 February 2011.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_treating (accessed March 6, 2011).
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