Hardenability of Steel

Jared Christian B. Paz Department of Mining, Metallurgical, and Materials Engineering University of the Philippines Diliman MatE 113 WWX

Abstract
The Jominy End Quench Test is a common method used to measure the hardenability of steel. It is done by heating a steel sample to its austenitizing temperature and quenching one end of the sample with a given quenching medium. In this experiment, three types of steel were used: AISI 1020, 1045 and 4140.The specimens were mounted on a Jominy end quench fixture and one end was quenched using tap water. The microstructures and the Rockwell Hardness values of the specimens were determined. Then, the hardenability curve for each type of steel was obtained. It was observed that as the distance from the quenched end increased, the hardness and the martensite present in the region being measured decreased. Also, as the amount of martensite decreased, the amount of ferrite and pearlite in the microstructure increased. Alloying elements and factors such as austenitizing temperature and quenching medium are also significant in determining the hardenability of the steel samples.

1. Introduction:
Hardenability is a property that measures the metals ability to harden under a given heat treatment process. It measures the depth of hardness of a metal when subjected to the said heat treatment process. When steel is heated above its recrystallization or austenitizing temperature and then quenched, its hardness increases due to the formation of martensite (a hard, brittle and needle-like crystal structure). The rate of formation of martensite determines the steels hardenability. Each type of steel alloy has a unique relationship between the formation of martensite and cooling rate. A standard method to determine hardenability is the Jominy end quench test. It involves heating a round steel sample above its austenitizing temperature and quenching the sample with tap water at one end. For this experiment, the hardenability of different steel alloys was determined using the Jominy end quench test. Hardenability of Steel, JC B Paz, 2007-63299 2. Methodology: For this experiment, three types of steel were used; plain carbon steel AISI 1020 and AISI 1045, and low alloy steel AISI 4140. For each type of steel, a 4-inch specimen with a 1-inch diameter was used. The specimens were placed inside a furnace set to a temperature 100oF above the upper critical temperature. The specimens were kept at a constant temperature for one hour. Then the samples were immediately taken out of the furnace and placed firmly in the Jominy end quench fixture. The quenching water had a temperature at 75oF and issued out of a 0.5 inch orifice with a free height of 2.5 inches.

Page 1

Figure 1. 1020 Steel 1st Inch region

The specimen remained at the set-up for 20 minutes. The specimens were then cooled to room temperature. Two parallel shallow flats about 0.4mm deep and 1 cm wide were grinded along the specimen length (one flat was on the side opposite to the other flat). One flat was metallographically prepared by grinding, polishing and etching. For the grinding process, 8 grades of sandpaper were used; 80, 120, 220, 320, 400, 600, 800 and 1200. For the polishing process, coarse then fine polishing was performed until a mirror-like finish was achieved. The specimens were then etched using a 2% Nital solution to reveal the microstructures. A specimen was polished and etched again if the specimen was over-etched or under-etched. The photomicrographs at the 1st, 2nd and 3rd inch regions were taken. Then, the Rockwell Hardness readings were taken at 1/16 inch intervals for the first inch, 1/8 inch intervals for the second inch, and inch intervals for the remaining length.

Figure 2. 1020 Steel 2nd Inch Region

Figure 3. 1020 Steel 3rd Inch Region

3. Results: All photomicrographs presented, except for Figures 7 to 9, are at 200x magnification.

Hardenability of Steel, JC B Paz, 2007-63299

Page 2

Figure 4. 1045 Steel 1st Inch Region Figure 7. 4140 Steel 1st Inch Region (500x)

Figure 5. 1045 Steel 2nd Inch Region

Figure 8. 4140 Steel 2nd Inch Region (500x)

Figure 6. 1045 Steel 3rd Inch Region

Figure 9. 4140 Steel 3rd Inch Region (500x)

Hardenability of Steel, JC B Paz, 2007-63299

Page 3

Table 1. Rockwell Hardness Values for 1020 Steel. Region 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Trial 1 30 26 29 30 30 29 29 29 28 28 25 24 24 24 26 22 23 23 22 23 21 21 22 21 21 20 20 20 21 23 Trial 2 Trial 3 First Inch 19 30 27 29 30 30 29 30 30 30 30 30 29 31 31 32 28 30 29 30 27 28 30 27 29 30 29 28 30 29 27 27 Second Inch 25 25 25 23 23 23 24 22 24 23 23 23 24 24 24 23 Third Inch 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 22 Fourth Inch 21 21 19 18 Average 26.33 27.33 29.67 29.67 29.67 30.00 29.67 29.67 30.67 28.67 29.00 26.67 27.00 27.67 27.00 28.33 25.33 24.33 23.67 22.67 23.00 22.67 22.33 23.33 22.67 21.00 20.67 20.67 21.00 21.00

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

60 56 58 50 50 42 49 50 47.5 50.5 48 56

60 60 60 55.5 51 55 56 56 54 56 51.5 48 Second Inch 50.5 56 55 53 65 66 50 54 48.5 50 51 54 49.5 51 47 50 Third Inch 44 39 43 49 46 45.5 46 49 Fourth Inch 45 44 43.5 48 35 46 43 49

64 60 59 56 54 59 58 56 51.5 54 53 56 54 56 52 53.5 48.5 49.5 49.5 47 52 45 45.5 43 39.5 43 52 50

61.33 58.67 59.00 53.83 51.67 52.00 54.33 54.00 51.00 53.50 50.83 53.33 53.50 54.67 61.00 52.50 49.00 51.5 50.00 48.00 45.00 45.67 45.67 46.00 42.83 44.33 44.33 47.33

Table 3. Rockwell Hardness Values for 4140 Steel. Region 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Trial 1 59 52 49 64 63 61 60 65 65 64 65 Trial 2 Trial 3 First Inch 59 61 63 62 66 63 62 65 67 65 68 65 67 67 66 67 66 64 67 60 63 63 Average 59.67 59.00 59.33 63.67 65.00 64.67 64.67 66.00 65.00 63.67 63.67 Page 4

Table 2. Rockwell Hardness Values for 1020 Steel. Region 1 2 3 4 Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 First Inch 58 62 62 72 69.5 67 70 70 70 66.5 67.5 70 Average 60.67 69.50 70.00 68.00

Hardenability of Steel, JC B Paz, 2007-63299

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

63 61 60 60 58 56 59 56 57 53 55 51 52 51 46 51 41 48 52 52 50

64 62 61 61 60 Second Inch 60 59 58 57 58 56 56 55 Third Inch 55 53 54 54 Fourth Inch 48 52 48 47

61 60 60 61 59 57 58 53 52 55 53 55 54 52 55 55 55 52 48 50 50

62.67 61.00 60.33 60.67 59.00 57.67 58.67 55.67 55.33 55.33 54.67 54.00 53.67 52.67 51.33 53.33 50.00 49.33 50.67 50.00 49.00

4. Discussion: Based from the photomicrographs obtained, it can be seen that for all samples, the quenched end had the most amount of martensite present and as the distance from the quenched end increases, the amount of martensite present in the microstructure decreases while the amount of ferrite and pearlite increases. Depending on the cooling rate, steel in its austenite phase can either transform to martensite or a mixture of pearlite and ferrite. Pearlite and ferrite formation involves diffusion of carbon atoms from the austenite phase, which takes time. The rate of change in temperature required for diffusion is called the critical cooling rate. If the specimens cooling rate is faster than its critical cooling rate, the carbon atoms will not be given enough time to diffuse out of the austenite phase. When cooled, the austenite phase, along with the trapped carbon atoms, transforms into martensite. From the Jominy end quench test, it can be seen that the cooling rate of certain regions of the specimens decreases as the distance from the quenched end increases thus, explaining the characteristics of the obtained microstructures. Since martensite is significantly harder than the ferrite-pearlite mixture, the hardness of a measured region is inversely proportional to the distance from the quenched end. The Rockwell Hardness values obtained also showed the same pattern that the amount of martensite in the microstructures showed. The Rockwell Hardness value is also inversely proportional to the distance from the quenched end. To determine the hardenability of steel, two parameters are needed: cooling rate and hardness. The Jominy End Quench Test is the most common method of determining the hardenability of steel because of its simplicity and ease of performance. Since only one end of the heated metal is being quenched, the cooling Page 5

Figure 10. Plot of Hardness (HRC) versus Distance from Quenched End (inch).
80 70 60 y = -4.242x + 63.89 (green) 50 y = -5.084x + 61.49 (blue) 40 30 20 10 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 y = -3.177x + 29.44 (red)

*blue = 1045 steel red = 1020 steel green = 4140 steel

Hardenability of Steel, JC B Paz, 2007-63299

rate differs at different parts of the steel sample. The hardness of the steel sample can be obtained by performing a hardness test. From Figure 10, it can be seen that the 1045 steel had the highest hardenability followed by 4140, then 1020 steel. Theoretically, 4140 steel has greater hardenability than 1045 steel since 4140 steel is made for hardenability and machinability [5] while 1045 steel is made for strength and hardness [6]. The discrepancies in the obtained data were due to experimental errors. In general, alloying elements improves the hardenability of steel by slowing down ferrite and pearlite formation which, in turn, making martensite formation easier and possible at lower temperatures. Lengthening the austenitizing time will produce more martensite, providing a more accurate hardenability curve while lowering the austenitizing temperature and using oil as a quenching medium will decrease the accuracy of the hardenability curve obtained.

7. References: [1] Callister, W. D., Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction 7th Ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 2007. [2] McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms 6th Ed., The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2003. [3] Martensite. http://www.threeplanes.net/martensite.html, Accessed Mar 10, 2012. [4] Hardness and Hardenability - Part Two: A Discussion on Hardenability and Hardenability Testing. http://www.industrialheating.com/Articles/Colu mn/BNP_GUID_9-52006_A_10000000000000379772, Accessed Mar 10, 2012. [5] Atlas Specialty Metals. http://www.atlassteels.com.au/documents/Atlas4 140.pdf, Accessed Mar 13, 2012. [6] AISI 1045. http://www.efunda.com/materials/alloys/carbon_ steels/show_carbon.cfm?ID=AISI_1045&prop= all&Page_Title=AISI%201045, Accessed Mar 13, 2012. [7] Standard Specication for Carbon and Alloy Steel Bars Subject to End-Quench Hardenability Requirements, ASTM Designation A304, ASTM Annual Book of Standards, 2004.

5. Conclusions: The following conclusions were made: 1) the hardness values and amount of martensite present in the microstructure are inversely proportional to the distance from the quenched region; 2) Alloying improves the hardenability of steel; 3) Factors such as the austenitizing time and quenching medium have an effect on the hardenability curve obtained.

6. Recommendations: The next observers are recommended to do the following: 1) Make sure that the steel samples are properly placed in the Jominy end quench fixture to avoid uneven quenching.

Hardenability of Steel, JC B Paz, 2007-63299

Page 6