METAL ALLOYS - APPLICATIONS AND PROCESSING

WHY STUDY Applications and Processing

of Metal Alloy?
Materials selection

ISSUES TO ADDRESS...
How are metal alloys classified and how are they used?
What are some of the common fabrication techniques?
TAXONOMY OF METALSMetal Alloys
Adapted from
Ferrous Nonferrous Fig. 11.1,
Callister 7e.

Steels
Steels Cast Irons
Cast Irons Cu Al Mg Ti
<1.4 wt% C
<1.4wt%C 3-4.5 wt%C
3-4.5 wt% C

T(C) microstructure:
1600 ferrite, graphite
d
cementite
1400 L
g+L Adapted from Fig. 9.24,Callister 7e.
1200 g 1148C L+Fe3C (Fig. 9.24 adapted from Binary Alloy
austenite Phase Diagrams, 2nd ed.,
Eutectic: Vol. 1, T.B. Massalski (Ed.-in-Chief),
1000 4.30
ASM International, Materials Park, OH,
g+Fe3C 1990.)
a800 727C Fe3C
ferrite Eutectoid: cementite
600 0.76 a+Fe3C
400 2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 6.7
(Fe)
Co , wt% C
 Iron containing Steels - cast irons
Nomenclature AISI (American Iron and Steel Institute) &
FERROUS ALLOYS
SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers)
10xx Plain Carbon Steels
11xx Plain Carbon Steels (resulfurized for machinability)
15xx Mn (10 ~ 20%)
40xx Mo (0.20 ~ 0.30%)
43xx Ni (1.65 - 2.00%), Cr (0.4 - 0.90%), Mo (0.2 - 0.3%)
44xx Mo (0.5%)
where xx is wt% C x 100
example: 1060 steel plain carbon steel with 0.60 wt% C

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Stainless Steel -- >11% Cr
CAST IRON

Ferrous alloys with > 2.1 wt% C

more commonly 3 - 4.5 wt%C

low melting (also brittle) so easiest to cast

Cementite decomposes to ferrite + graphite

Fe3C 3 Fe (a) + C (graphite)

generally a slow process

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LIMITATIONS OF FERROUS ALLOYS

1) Relatively high density

2) Relatively low conductivity
3) Poor corrosion resistance

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NONFERROUS
Cu Alloys ALLOYS Al Alloys
Brass: Zn is subst. impurity -lower r: 2.7g/cm3
(costume jewelry, coins, -Cu, Mg, Si, Mn, Zn additions
corrosion resistant) -solid sol. or precip.
Bronze : Sn, Al, Si, Ni are strengthened (struct.
subst. impurity aircraft parts
(bushings, landing & packaging)
gear) NonFerrous Mg Alloys
-very low r: 1.7g/cm3
Alloys -ignites easily
-aircraft, missiles
Ti Alloys
Refractory metals
-lower r: 4.5g/cm3
-high melting T
vs 7.9 for steel Noble metals -Nb, Mo, W, Ta
-reactive at high T -Ag, Au, Pt
-space applic. -oxid./corr. resistant 7

Based on discussion and data provided in Section 11.3, Callister 7e.

What is Heat Treating?
Ferrous Metals
Controlled heating and cooling of Steel & Alloys
metal to change its properties and
performance through : Cast Iron
Stainless Steel & Tool Steel
change in Microstructure
change in chemistry or Non Ferrous Metals
composition Aluminium
Copper
Brass
Titanium

Commonly Heat Treated Metals

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Why Heat Treat?
To improve toughness
To increase hardness
To increase ductility
To improve Machineability Harden a part that is not
To refine Grain structure
To remove Residual Stesses
To improve Wear
Resistance
Why use heat treating?
In simple terms...
Soften a part that is too
hard
hard enough
Put hard skin on parts that
are soft
Make selective property
changes within parts
HEAT TREATMENT

Types of heat treatment:

Annealing
Normalizing
Hardening
Tempering
Case hardening

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 ANNEALING

It is a heat treatment wherein a material is altered, causing changes in its

properties such as strength and hardness

It the process of heating solid metal to high temperatures and cooling it slowly
so that its particles arrange into a defined lattice
THERMAL PROCESSING
Annealing: Heat to Tanneal, OF METALS
then cool slowly.

Stress Relief: Reduce Spheroidize (steels):

stress caused by: Make very soft steels for
-plastic deformation good machining. Heat just
-nonuniform cooling below TE & hold for
-phase transform. 15-25 h.

Full Anneal (steels):

Types of Make soft steels for
good forming by heating
Annealing to get g, then cool in
furnace to get coarse P.
Process Anneal:
Negate effect of
Normalize (steels):
cold working by
Deform steel with large
(recovery/
grains, then normalize
recrystallization)
to make grains small.
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Based on discussion in Section 11.7, Callister 7e.

 NORMALIZING
This process is only confined to steel.
It is used to refine the grain due to work hardening
It involves the heating of the steel to just above
Its upper critical point.

Phase diagram of
Iron-Carbon

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HARDENING
Hardening is the process of increasing the hardness
of steel by adding a high amount of carbon
The degree of hardness depends on the amount of
carbon present in steel and the form in which it is
trapped during quenching.
Once hardened, the steel is resistant to wear but
is brittle and easily broken under load.

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TEMPERING
Tempering is the process to reduce hardness and
brittleness slightly of a hardened steel work piece.

It helps to produce a more elastic and tough steel

capable of retaining the cutting edge after tempering
Prior to tempering, the steel must be cleaned to
brightness with emery cloth so that oxide color is visible
when reheated

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CASE HARDENING
Case hardening is a process used with mild steel to
give a hard skin

The metal is heated to cherry red and is dipped in

Carbon powder. It is then repeated 2-3 more times before
Quenching the metal in water to harden the skin.

This allows the surface of mild steel to be able to

subject to wear but the soft core is able to subject to
Sudden shock e.g. the tool holders

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CASE HARDENING - CARBURIZING

Carburizing involves placing the mild steel in box

packed with charcoal granules, heated to 950 C
and allowing the mild steel to soak for several hours.
It achieves the same purpose of case hardening

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