Heat treatment

Introduction :

Plain carbon steels and alloy steels are among the relatively few engineering materials which can be usefully heat
treated in order to vary their mechanical properties. The other main group is the heat-treatable aluminium alloys.
Steels can be heat treated because of the structural changes that can take place within solid iron-carbon alloys.
It is the combination of thermal, industrial, and metalworking processes to alter the mechanical properties
and chemical properties of metals.

In simple words, heat treatment is a process of heating the metal, holding it there for some time, and then
cooling it back. During the whole process, the mechanical properties like hardness, ductility, toughness,
strength, etc. get changed due to changes in microstructure.

All metallic metals have grains which are nothing but microstructures of crystals. The nature of those
grains determines the behavior of the mechanical properties of a metal. Heat treatment changes that
mechanical structure by controlling the rate of diffusion and rate of cooling within that microstructure.

Purpose of simple heat treatment.

A) Eliminating cold work B) Controlling dispersion strengthening C) Improving machinability

Heat Treatment of Steel: Process Steps

The properties of heat-treated materials vastly depend on the processes that it has to undergo. Below are those key
processes of heat treatment.
 Heating
 Holding
 Cooling
Heating

The first step in the heat treatment process is heating the metal. The temperature depends on the types of metal
and the technique used. Sometimes you need to heat the outer surfaces of the metal, and sometimes you need to
heat the whole body. That depends on what kind of alteration you want in the mechanical structure.

Below are different furnaces that are used for heating metals in heat treatment process.
 Box type furnace
 Batch furnace
 Elevator type furnace
 Bell-type furnace
 Pit type furnace
 Salt bath furnace
 Fluidized bed furnace
Holding

During the holding process, the metal is kept at the achieved temperature for some period of time. The time required
depends on the type of metals and the type of mechanical properties expected.

The holding time also depends on the part size. If the part is large it is kept in a holding state for more time than the
same type of metals having a small part size.
Cooling

After the holding process, cooling starts. The cooling must be done in a prescribed manner. During cooling, there
are some structural changes occur. Different media such as water, oil, or forced air is used to aid in cooling. You can
also use furnaces for cooling purposes as the control environments help inefficient cooling.

Heat Treatment Techniques

Following are few common heat treatment technique used in industries.

 Annealing
 Normalizing
 Hardening
 Tampering
 Carburization
 Quenching
In all the above processes the steel is heated slowly to the appropriate temperature for its carbon content and
then cooled. It is the rate of cooling which determines the ultimate structure and properties that the steel will
have, providing that the initial heating has been slow enough for the steel to have reached phase equilibrium at
its process temperature. Figure 1 shows the types of the ranges of carbon steels.

Fig.1. Heat-treatment temperature Ranges of Classes of Carbon Steels in Relation to the Equilibrium Diagram.

Annealing

Annealing is a heat treatment process that is used to soften the metal. In other words, annealing helps to improve
ductility, machinability, and toughness. On the flip side, the hardness of metals gets reduced. Annealing does this by
changing the microstructure of metals.

Annealing is done by heating the metals at the above critical temperature, hold them there for some time and then
cool it at a very slow rate in the furnace itself. Annealing is usually done on ferrous and non-ferrous metals to reduce
hardness after the cold working process. Annealing is also done to enhance the electric conductivity of the metal.

Types of Annealing

There are two types of annealing process which are shown below.

 Process Annealing
 Full Annealing
Process Annealing

Process annealing is done when metal is heated below the critical temperature, keep it for a suitable time, and then
cool it slowly. This process is suitable for low carbon steel like sheet metal and wires. No phase transformation
occurs during process annealing, and it’s considerably cheaper than full annealing.

Full Annealing

Full annealing is done when metal is heated above the critical temperature. This process is suitable for low and high
carbon steel. Phase transformation occurs during the full annealing process, and it is a costly operation than process
annealing.

Why Annealing is Done?

 To relieve internal stress

 To reduce the hardness of a metal
 To increase ductility, maintainability, and toughness of metal
 Refine the grain structure of metals
Normalizing

Normalizing is also similar to annealing, but the metal is air-cooled instead of other mediums used in the furnace.
The metal is heated above the critical temperature, kept in there for some time, and allows to cool down under open
air. Normalizing is usually done for low carbon to high carbon steel.

Please note that normalizing does not make metals that much softer as in the case with annealing, but it allows to
convert uniform grain structure, and internal stresses are also relieved. Normalizing is usually done on carbon steel.

Why Normalizing is Done?

 To get a uniform grain structure in carbon steel

 To relieve internal stress
 To improve the machinability and strength of carbon steel
Tampering

Tampering is done on metals that are already hardened. We all know that sometimes our application needs metal to
be hardened as well as tough. Tampering helps to achieve the required toughness by sacrificing the hardness.
Tampering is a very common process for machine tools, knives, etc.

Tampering is usually done by heating the metal at a relatively low temperature. The temperature depends on the
required mechanical properties of metals. If you want high ductility, then you need to heat it at a high temperature.
But if you need low ductility, then the low temperature is sufficient.

Why Tampering Is Done?

 To improve ductility
 To reduce hardness
 To relieve internal stress
 To reduce brittleness

Hardening

As the name suggests, hardening is used to increase the hardness of a metal. This is usually done by heating the
metal above normalization temperature, keeping it at normalization temperature, and then rapidly quenching
( Cooling) it in water, oil, or brine solution.
The heat required depends on the size and the required mechanical properties of the metal. Often after hardening,
tampering is done to increase the ductility and toughness of metals.

Why Hardening is Done?

 To increase the hardness of metals

 To improve the magnetizing properties
 To reduce ductility and toughness
 To reduce grain size
Types of Hardening

 Case Hardening / Surface hardening

 Differential hardening
 Flame Hardening
Case Hardening / Surface Hardening

Case hardening or surface hardening is a hardening heat-treatment process. In the case of hardening, the complete
metal piece is heated. But in the case of case hardening, only the outer surface is heat-treated to make it hardened.
The inner metal is still soft and ductile.

Case hardening is widely used for the tool and die industry where the tool surface needed to hardened but the inner
metal piece has to remain ductile.

Types of Case Hardening

 Nitriding
 Cyaniding

Nitriding

Nitriding is a case hardening process in which nitrogen gas is used to harden the outer surface of the metal. The
metal is heated in an ammonia (NH3) atmosphere, and then it is cooled.

During the whole process, ammonia defuses into nascent hydrogen and nascent nitrogen. This nascent nitrogen
diffuses on the outer layer of metal form nitrite which increases the surface hardness.

Cyaniding

Cyaniding is a case hardening process in which the metal piece is immersed in a bath of molten sodium or
potassium cyanide. After that, the metal piece is cooled into lime water so that cyanide salt is sticking to
the outer surface of the metal. This cyanide salt is responsible for hardening the outer surface of the metal.

Differential Hardening

Differential hardening is kind of a hardening process in which different area of the metal piece gets a different heat-
treatment process. This is a very popular hardening process for high-end cutting tools.

Flame Hardening

Inflame hardening, only a portion of the metal piece is hardened. This is different from differential hardening where
the whole metal piece getting hardened by the different heat-treatment processes.
Carburization

In carburization, the hardness of the metal piece is increased by increasing the carbon content. The metal piece is
heated below the melting point with high carbon materials such as charcoal. The heated metal piece then absorbs
carbons to make it more hard and brittle.

Quenching

Quenching is a process of cooling a metal piece quickly after it was heated. Quenching helps metals to become
harder or softer depending upon whether it’s a ferrous or non-ferrous alloy. In the case of ferrous alloy, quenching
helps to make it harder, but it becomes softer in the case of non-ferrous.

For quenching, the metal needs to be heated above the upper critical temperature and then cool rapidly under forced
air, water, oil, nitrogen, etc., depending upon the type of alloy and the desired mechanical properties. Sometimes
when you do quenching too quickly, metal forms crack due to excessive internal stress.

Advantages of Heat Treatment

 Heat treatment assist in improving the ductility of metal in the annealing process
 Heat treatment helps in hardening metals
 Case hardening helps in hardening only the outer surface of the metal piece keeping the rest of the
portion soft and ductile.
 Machinability of metals gets improved.
 Resistance to corrosion capability gets enhanced.
 Electrical and magnetic properties get improved
 Internal stresses are relieved
 The grain structure of metal get refined

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Heat Treatment Process?

Heat treatment is a process of heating the metal to a certain temperature, keeping it there for some time,
and then cool it down. During the whole process, grain crystallization happens, which helps alter the
mechanical, chemical, and electric properties of metals.

What are the different types of Heat Treatment?

Hardening
Annealing
Normalizing
Tampering
Quenching
What are the three stages of Heat Treatment?

Heating
Holding
Cooling

Why Heat Treatment is Done?

Heat treatment is done to alter the mechanical, chemical, and electrical properties of metal to be suitable
for industries to use.

What is Critical Temperature of Steel – Definition

Critical temperature of steel defines phase transition between two phases of steel. As the steel is heated
above the critical temperature, about 1335°F (724°C), it undergoes a phase change, recrystallizing as
austenite.

There are two types of critical temperature:

 Lower critical temperature (Ac1). The temperature at which austenite starts to transform from ferrite.
 Upper critical temperature (Ac3). The temperature at which austenite is completely transformed from
ferrite.
In the Fe-C system, there is a eutectoid point at approximately 0.8wt% C, 723°C. The phase just above
the eutectoid temperature for plain carbon steels is known as austenite or gamma.