Section 20

Heat Treatment

Rev 2 April 2013

Heat Treatment
Copyright TWI Ltd 2013

20

Heat Treatment

20.1

Introduction
The heat treatment given to a particular grade of steel by the steelmaker/
supplier should be shown on the material test certificate and may be
referred to as the supply condition.
Welding inspectors may need to refer to material test certificates so must be
familiar with the terminology used and have some understanding of the
principles of some of the most commonly applied heat treatments.
Welded joints may need to be subjected to heat treatment after welding
(PWHT) and the tasks of monitoring the thermal cycle and checking the heat
treatment records are often delegated to welding inspectors.

20.2

Heat treatment of steel

The main supply conditions for weldable steels are:
As-rolled, hot roller and hot finished
Plate is hot rolled to finished size and allowed to air cool; the temperature at
which rolling finishes may differ from plate to plate and so strength and
toughness properties vary and are not optimised.
Applied to
Relatively thin, lower strength C-steel.
Thermomechanical controlled processing (TMCP), control-rolled,
thermomechanically rolled
Steel plate given precisely controlled thickness reductions during hot rolling
within carefully controlled temperature ranges; final rolling temperature is
also carefully controlled.
Applied to
Relatively thin, high strength low alloy (HSLA) steels and some steels with
good toughness at low temperatures, eg cryogenic steels.
Normalised
After working (rolling or forging) the steel to size, it is heated to ~900C then
allowed to cool in air to ambient temperature; which optimises strength and
toughness and gives uniform properties from item to item for a particular
grade of steel (Figure 20.1).
Applied to
C-Mn steels and some low alloy steels.

20-1

www.twitraining.com

Rev 2 April 2013

Heat Treatment
Copyright TWI Ltd 2013

Normalising:

Temperature, C

Rapid heating to soak temperature (100% austenite)

Short soak time at temperature
Cool in air to ambient temperature

~ 900C

Time
Figure 20.1 Typical normalising heat treatment applied to C-Mn and some low
alloy steels.

Quenched and tempered

After working the steel (rolling or forging) to size it is heated to ~900C then
cooled as quickly as possible by quenching in water or oil. After quenching,
the steel must be tempered (softened) to improve the ductility of the asquenched steel (Figure 20.2).
Applied to
Some low alloy steels to give higher strength toughness or wear resistance.

Temperature, C

Quenching and tempering:

~ 900C

Rapid heating to soak temperature (100% austenite).

Short soak time at temperature.
Rapid cooling by quenching in water or oil.
Reheat to tempering temperature, soak and air cool.

Quenching
cycle

Tempering
cycle

Time
Figure 20.2 A typical quenching and tempering heat treatment applied to some low
alloy steels.

20-2

www.twitraining.com

Rev 2 April 2013

Heat Treatment
Copyright TWI Ltd 2013

Solution annealed
Hot or cold working to size, steel heated to ~1100C after.
Slab heating temperature > ~ 1050C

Rolling period

Austenite
()

Temperature, C.

~ 900C
Austenite + ferrite
(

Ferrite + pearlite
() iron carbide

As-rolled or
hot rolled

Control-rolled
Or TMCP

Time
Figure 20.3 Comparison of the control-rolled (TMCP) and as-rolled (hot rolling)
conditions.

Solution heat treated

Rapidly cooled by quenching in water to prevent any carbides or other
phases forming (Figure 20.4).
Solution heat treatment:

Temperature, C

Rapid heating to soak temperature (100% austenite).

Short soak time at temperature.
Rapid cool cooling by quenching in water or oil.

> ~ 1050C

Quenching

Time
Figure 20.4 Typical solution heat treatment (solution annealing) applied to
austenitic stainless steels.

20-3

www.twitraining.com

Rev 2 April 2013

Heat Treatment
Copyright TWI Ltd 2013

Applied to
Austenitic stainless steels such as 304 and 316 grades.
Annealed
After working the steel (pressing or forging, etc) to size, it is heated to
~900C then allowed to cool in the furnace to ambient temperature; this
reduces strength and toughness but improves ductility (Figure 20.5).
Annealing:

Temperature, C

Rapid heating to soak temperature (100% austenite).

Short soak time at temperature.
Slow cool in furnace to ambient temperature.

~ 900C

Time
Figure 20.5 Typical annealing heat treatment applied to C-Mn and some low alloy
steels.

Applied to
C-Mn steels and some low alloy steels.
Figures 20.1-20.5 show thermal cycles for the main supply conditions and
subsequent heat treatment that can be applied to steels.

20.3

Postweld heat treatment (PWHT)

Postweld heat treatment has to be applied to some welded steels to ensure
that the properties of the weldment is suitable for the intended applications.
The temperature at which PWHT is usually carried out well below the
temperature where phase changes can occur (see Note), but high enough
to allow residual stresses to be relieved quickly and to soften (temper) any
hard regions in the HAZ.
Note There are circumstances when a welded joint may need to be
normalised to restore HAZ toughness, these are relatively rare and it is
necessary to ensure that welding consumables are carefully selected
because normalising will significantly reduce weld metal strength.

20-4

www.twitraining.com

Rev 2 April 2013

Heat Treatment
Copyright TWI Ltd 2013

The major benefits of reducing residual stress and ensuring that the HAZ
hardness is not too high for steels for particular service applications are:

Improves the resistance of the joint to brittle fracture.

Improves the resistance of the joint to stress corrosion cracking.
Enables welded joints to be machined to accurate dimensional
tolerances.

Because the main reason for and benefit of PWHT is to reduce residual
stresses, PWHT is often called stress-relief.

20.4

PWHT thermal cycle

The Application Standard/Code will specify when PWHT is required to give
the first two benefits above and also give guidance about the thermal cycle
that must be used.
To ensure that a PWHT cycle is carried out in accordance with a particular
Code, it is essential that a PWHT procedure is prepared and the following
parameters are specified:

20.4.1

Maximum heating rate.

Soak temperature range.
Minimum time at the soak temperature (soak time).
Maximum cooling rate.

Heating rate
Must be controlled to avoid large temperature differences, (large thermal
gradients) within the fabricated item. Which will produce large stresses and
may be high enough to cause distortion or even cracking.
Application Standards usually require control of the maximum heating rate
when the temperature of the item is above ~300C because steels start to
show significant loss of strength above this temperature and are more
susceptible to distortion if there are large thermal gradients.
The temperature of the fabricated item must be monitored during the
thermal cycle by thermocouples attached to the surface at locations
representing the thickness range of the item.
By monitoring furnace and item temperatures the rate of heating can be
controlled to ensure compliance with Code requirements at all positions
within the item.
Maximum heating rates specified for C-Mn steel depend on the thickness of
the item but tend to be in the range ~60 to ~200C/h.

20-5

www.twitraining.com

Rev 2 April 2013

Heat Treatment
Copyright TWI Ltd 2013

20.4.2 Soak temperature

The soak temperature specified by the Code depends on the type of steel
and thus the temperature range required reducing residual stresses to a low
level.
C and C-Mn steels require a soak temperature of ~600C whereas some
low alloy steels (such as Cr-Mo steels used for elevated temperature
service) require higher temperatures, typically in the range ~700-~760C.
Soak temperature is an essential variable for a WPQR, so it is very
important it is controlled within the specified limits otherwise it may be
necessary to carry out a new WPQ test to validate the properties of the item
and at worst it may not be fit-for-purpose.
20.4.3 Soak time
It is necessary to allow time for all the welded joints to experience the
specified temperature throughout the full joint thickness.
The temperature is monitored by surface contact thermocouples and it is
the thickest joint of the fabrication that governs the minimum time for
temperature equalisation.
Typical specified soak times are 1h per 25mm thickness.
20.4.4

Cooling rate
It is necessary to control the rate of cooling from the PWHT temperature for
the same reason that heating rate needs to be controlled, to avoid distortion
or cracking due to high stresses from thermal gradients.
Codes usually specify controlled cooling to ~300C. Below this temperature
the item can be withdrawn from a furnace and allowed to cool in air because
steel is relatively strong and unlikely to suffer plastic strain by any
temperature gradients that may develop.

20-6

www.twitraining.com

Rev 2 April 2013

Heat Treatment
Copyright TWI Ltd 2013

PWHT (C-Mn steels):

Temperature,C

Controlled heating rate from 300C to soak temperature.

Minimum soak time at temperature.
Controlled cooling to ~ 300C.

~ 600C

Controlled heating
and cooling rates
~300C

Soak
time

Air cool
Time

Figure 20.6 Typical PWHT applied to C-Mn steels.

20.5

Heat treatment furnaces

Oil- and gas-fired furnaces used for PWHT must not allow flame contact
with the fabrication as this may induce large thermal gradients.
It is also important to ensure that the fuel particularly for oil-fired furnaces
does not contain high levels of potentially harmful impurities, such as
sulphur.

20.5.1 Local PWHT

For a pipeline or pipe spool it is often necessary to apply PWHT to individual
welds by local application of heat.
For this, a PWHT procedure must specify the previously described
parameters for controlling the thermal cycle but it is also necessary to
specify the following:

Width of the heated band (must be within the soak temperature range).
Width of the temperature decay band (soak temperature to ~300C).

Other considerations are:

Position of the thermocouples in the heated band width and the decay
band.
If the item needs support in a particular way to allow movement/
avoid distortion.
The commonest method of heating for local PWHT is by insulated electrical
elements (electrical mats) attached to the weld.

20-7

www.twitraining.com

Rev 2 April 2013

Heat Treatment
Copyright TWI Ltd 2013

Gas-fired, radiant heating elements can also be used.

Figure 20.7 shows typical control zones for localised PWHT of a pipe butt
weld.
Weld seam

temp.
decay
band

heated band

temp.
decay
band

Figure 20.7 Local PWHT of a pipe girth seam.

20-8

www.twitraining.com