HEAT TREATMENT

Introduction
Lifting devices in their various forms are constructed from a range of materials that have specific properties for the function they will perform. The inherent structure that provides these necessary properties may not be capable of meeting a range of working demands. It is then necessary to enhance these properties by some means.

Introduction
Alloying, cold working processes and heat treatment are ways of altering the structure of a material to improve its properties. These structure-altering procedures are often employed in combination to achieve the desired results. For example, iron alloyed with carbon produces steel that is further enhanced with other metals such as molybdenum, chromium and vanadium. The forging process will again change the properties, as will heat treatment.

Tools for Controlling Properties of Metals

1. Alloying 2. Cold Working 3. Heat treatment

Heat Treatment
Heat treatment is defined as heating a metal to a specified temperature, keeping it at that temperature for some time followed by cooling at a specified rate. It is a tool to get required microstructure and properties in the metal.

Heat treatment
Heat treatment - controlled heating and cooling basically

The basic steps of heat treatment are:

Heating Soaking Cooling

Handouts 2

Important Parameters in Heat treatment

Heating -> Soaking -> Cooling

Temperature

Time of soaking Medium of cooling

Rate of cooling

-Different combinations of the above parameters Give rise to different heat treatments

Handouts 2

Cooling Rates

Types of Heat Treatments

1. Annealing 2. Normalizing 3. Hardening 4. Tempering 5. Precipitation Hardening

Annealing
Annealing is a heat treatment in which the metal is heated to a temperature above its recrystallisation temperature, kept at that temperature some time for homogenization of temperature followed by very slow cooling to develop equilibrium structure in the metal or alloy.

The steel is heated 30 to 50oC above Ae3 temperature in case of hypo-eutectoid steels and 30 to 50oC above A1 temperature in case of hyper-eutectoid temperature The cooling is done in the furnace itself.
The aim of annealing is to increase the ductility.

Normalizing
Normalizing consists of heating a suitable steel to a temperature 50-1000 C above Ae3 temperature in case of hypoeutectoid steels and above Acm temperature in case of hypereutectoid steel, soaking for sufficient time and then cooling in still air. The aim of normalizing is to increase the toughness.

Hardening
In hardening heat treatment, the steel is heated 30 to 50oC above Ae3 temperature in case of hypo-eutectoid steels and 30 to 50oC above A1 temperature in case of hyper-eutectoid temperature, held at that temperature for some time followed by cooling at a rate faster than the critical cooling rate to produce martensite which is a hard phase. The aim of hardening is to increase the hardness and strength of the steel.

Critical Cooling Rate

Critical cooling rate

Tempering
Tempering consists of heating a hardened steel to a temperature below eutectoid temperature and keeping it at that temperature for a specified time to reduce brittleness followed by air cooling. The aim of tempering is to decrease brittleness of hardened steel.

Precipitation Hardening
Precipitation Hardening (or Age Hardening) is a heat treatment in which the strength increases due to precipitation of second phase particles in the parent phase. The aim of precipitation hardening is to increase the hardness and strength .

Heat Treatment Temperature

Acm The temperature ranges to which the steel has to be heated for different heat treatments A3

Cooling Rates for Different heat treatments

Tempering