HEAT TREATMENT

Heat treatment of steels annealing,

Normalizing,
Hardening,
Tempering,
Hardenability,
Jominy end quench test
Case hardening of steels
Carburizing,
Cyaniding,
Nitriding,
Induction and flame hardening.
Heat treatment of non-ferrous metals and alloys,
Age hardening of Aluminum & copper alloys.

Principal
Alloys change its micro structure on heating above certain temperature and it
again undergoes change in micro structure when cooled to room temperature

Cooling Rate is Important factor.

Slow cooling rate above the cooling rate will produce a pearlite soft structure
and rapid cooling will give rise to a martenstic hard structure
Purpose of Heat Treatment.

Relief of internal stress developed during cold
working, casting, welding, forging etc.
Harden & strengthen metals
Improve machinability
Change grain size
Soften metals for further cold working (ex wire
drawing or cold rolling)
Improve ductility & toughness
Increase heat, wear, & corrosion resistance of
materials
Improve magnetic & electrical properties
Homogenize the structure to remove coring or
segregation
Spheroidize tiny particles such as Fe
3
C in steel
by diffusion.

Stages of Heat Treatment Process
1. Heating a metal alloy to definite
temperature
2. Holding/soaking at that temperature
for a definite temperature for
austenitizing to occur
3. Cooling at a rate necessary to obtain a
desired properties associated with
changes in the nature, form, size and
distribution of micro-constiuents (such
as ferrite, pearlite, martensite, etc)

Annealing
Defn: Metal which is in metastable or distorted
structural state, to a temperature which will remove
the instability or distortion and then cooling, so that
room temperature structure is more stable/strain
free than before

Purpose:
To induce a complete stable structure
Refining & homogenizing the structure
Reducing hardness
Improving machinability
Improving cold working characteristics further cold working
To Produce desired microstructure micro structure
Remove residual stress, gases
Improving mechanical, physical, electrical, magnetic properties.


Annealing types
1. Stress Relieving 2. Process Relieving
3. Spheroidise annealing 4. Full annealing
Stress Relieving Annealing:
1. Stress Relieving produced during casting, welding, machining,
quenching, cold working.
2. Applies to both Ferrous & Non-Ferrous metals
3. If stresses not relived may lead to warpage, failure of casting
4. Stress Relieving Annealing does not alter metallurgical properties.
5. 0.3-0.5 times of melting point relief of casting
6. Also known as recovery.

Process Annealing:
1. Removes effects of cold working, softens, permits further cold
working in sheets & wire drawing
2. Held below 550-650 deg Centigrade and then air cooled.


Spherodizing:
Spherodizing involves subjecting steel to a selected temperature cycle, usually
within or near the transformation range in order to produce a spheroidial
or globular form of carbide in steel

1. Improves machinability
2. Facilitates subsequent cold working
3. Softens tool steels and some of the air hardening alloy steels
4. Improves surface finish during machining, the steels can be machined
relatively freely.
5. Prevents cracking of steel during cold forming operations.

Extensively used in High Carbon tool steels to transform lamellar pearlitic
cementitie into spheroidal type.
Cementite spheroids are embedded in a mtrix of ferrite.

Full Annealing Implies annealing a ferrous alloy by austenitizing and then cooling
slowly (in furnace itself) through the transformation range.


Type of Steel Austenitizing Temperature
Hypo-Eutectoid Steel 723
0
C
Hyper-Eutectoid Steel 910
0
C