Outlines:

Heat Treatment of Steels :

Metallurgical Principle

Fe ad Fe-Fe3C system
Phases and Microstructure
Fe-Fe3C Phase Diaram
General Physical and Mechanical Properties of each Microstructure
Transformation of austenite to final microstructure
Transformation in out of equilibrium
Effect of cooling/heating rate on critical temperature
Heat treatment processes
Metallurgy principles
Stress-relief annealing, full annealing, spheroidize annealing,
Normalizing, quenching and tempering
TTT and CCT Diagram
Martempering and Austempering

Usanee Kitkamthorn
Email: k_usanee@sut.ac.th
http://www.heattreatment.sut.ac.th
http://www.sut.ac.th/engineering/Metal/ru/index
http://personal.sut.ac.th/usanee

**The materials was prepared for non-commercial purpose such as teaching and learning.
It may not be reproduced for commercial use but may be copied for educational purposes.

Factors influence microstructure after heat treatment

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Heat Treatment of Steels: Phases in Fe-Fe3C System

Heat Treatment of Steels: Phases in Fe-Fe3C System

1. Ferrite () is an iron solid solution in which small amounts of

carbon atoms can dissolved. The maximum solubility at 727 C
is 0.022wt%C. The crystal structure is BCC with lattice parameter of
2.87 A for pure Fe at 295 K.

3. Delta ( ) is an iron solid solution in which small amounts of

carbon atoms can dissolved. The maximum solubility at 1495C is
0.09 wt%C. The crystal structure is also BCC but the lattice
parameter is 2.93 A for pure Fe.

2. Austenite () is an iron solid solution in which small amounts of

carbon atoms can dissolved. The maximum solubility at 1147C
is 2.14 wt%C. The crystal structure is FCC with lattice parameter of
3.57 A for pure iron.

4. Cementite (Fe3C) is an intermetallic compound. Its crystal

structure is orthorhombic having 12 Fe-atoms and 4 C-atoms. This is
equivalent to 6.67 wt.%C

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Heat Treatment of Steels: Phases in Fe-Fe3C System

Heat Treatment of Steels: Fe-Fe3C Phase Diagram

5. Martensite () is a supersaturated solid solution of iron in which

high amounts of C-atoms (or N-atoms) are trapped. It is metastable
phase and its crystal structure is BCT having lattice parameter
depending on the C content.

FCC

BCT
5

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Reference:William D., and Jr. Callister, 2007

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Kitkamhorn, U.

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General Physical and Mechanical Properties of each Microstructure

Heat Treatment of Steels: Phases in Fe-Fe3C System

Transfomation temperature or Critical
Temperature
Acm

A1 below this temperature, 727C,

is unstable and transform to
+ Fe3C

A3
A1

A3 the critical temperature below which

being single phase is unstable.
Proeutectoid ferrite must form.
Acm is the critical temperature below
which being single phase is unstable.
Proeutectoid cementite ferrite must form.

Adapter from William D., and Jr. Callister, 2007

without pemission

hypoeutectoid steel

Reference:William D., and Jr. Callister, 2007

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hypereutectoid steel

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General Physical and Mechanical Properties of each Microstructure

General Physical and Mechanical Properties of each Microstructure

Ferrite + Pearlite
- Ferrite is soft whereas pearlite is
harder and higher in strength
- Overall mechanical properties
depends on
- Fraction of ferrite and
pearlite
- Grain sizes of ferrite and
. pearlite
- Lamellar spacing between
ferrite and cementite within
the pearlite.

Austenite
Soft and good ductility
Non-magnetic
Strain harden-able
Its molar volume is less than
that of ferrite at the same
temperature
- Stable only at high temperature
except a sufficient high level of
.
alloying elements is added.
-

Cementite + Pearlite
- High strength but brittle
- High hardness and good wear
resistance
- Overall mechanical properties
depends on
- Fraction of cementite and
pearlite
- Grain sizes of pearlite and
lamellar spacing between
ferrite and cementite within
the pearlite.
- Morphology of pro-eutectoid
cementite

Reference:William D., and Jr. Callister, 2007

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General Physical and Mechanical Properties of each Microstructure

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Heat Treatment of Steels : Transformation of Austenite

1) + -

Bainite
High strength and toughness
Considerably high ductility
Moderate high hardness
Tempering is not required
Not stable at high temperature

Martensite
Hard but brittle
High wear resistance
Martensite hardness depends on
%C
Not stable at high temperature

Transformation proceeds by diffusion process, which

means time is required

Low carbon austenite is easier to transform to austenite

Defects such as grain boundaries, foreign particles and

dislocations can act as heterogeneous nucleation sites
for ferrite.

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Kitkamhorn, U.

Reference:William D., and

Jr. Callister, 2007

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Heat Treatment of Steels : Transformation of Austenite

-

Heat Treatment of Steels : Transformation of Austenite

Grain boundary is the most effective

nucleation site (intergranular
nucleation) Ferrite growing faster
along austenite GB is called
allotriomorph ferrite)
Foreign particles in austenite grain
can act as heterogeneous nucleation
site (intragranular nucleation).
Ferrite nucleates and grow within
grains is called idiomorph ferrite)

[Dr. R F Cochrane, Micrograph No. 230, DoITPoMS:

Fe, C 0.5(wt%) steel, normalised, Nital etched]

Widmansttten ferrite
is the lath ferrite which forms from
the austenite grain boundary or from
the allotriomorphic ferrite.

Allotriomorph
ferrite
Widmansttten
ferrite

Widmansttten ferrite forms at

temperatures below that for
allotriomorphic ferrite. Therefore
mostly found in steel weld and
hypoeutectoid hardened steels.
Ref: George E. Totten, 2006

[Dr. R F Cochrane, Micrograph No. 213, DoITPoMS:

Fe, C 0.15(wt%) steel, normalised, Nital etched]

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Heat Treatment of Steels : Transformation of Austenite

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Heat Treatment of Steels : Transformation of Austenite

2) Fe3C +
- Transformation proceeds by
diffusion process.
- Cementite nucleates on austensite
grain boundaries and can grow faster
along the boundaries.

3) +Fe3C (pearlite)
- Transformation proceeds by diffusion
process.
- Grow by cooperative growth of
and Fe3C
0
0

[Dr. R F Cochrane, Micrograph No. 243, DoITPoMS:

Fe, C 1.3(wt%) steel, annealed at 1100C, Nital etched]
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Ref: George E. Totten, 2006

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Heat Treatment of Steels : Transformation of Austenite

Heat Treatment of Steels : Transformation of Austenite

5) martensite (-BCT)

4) bainite ( +Fe3C)

- Diffusionless transformation
- Require fast cooling
- Large strain accompanied with
the transformation
- Level of strain is proportional to
%C in austenite

Ref: Bhadeshia and Honeycombe, 2006

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Heat Treatment of Steels : Evolution of Microstructure and dilatation

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http://www.threeplanes.net/
martensite.html
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Heat Treatment of Steels: Out of equilibrium

Cooling ad heating in real world are faster
than that equilibrium can be reached.

Ar is denoted for critical temperature

upon cooling

Ac is denoted for critical temperature

upon heating
heating rate or cooling rate

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Heat Treatment of Steels: Out of equilibium

Heat Treatment of Steels : Process Classificatio

Heat Treatment
of Steels

As cooling rate increased, Ar3 become lower much faster than Ar1.
At a certain cooling rate, these two points merge at Ar which
indicates the formation of fine pearlitic microstructure with out
ferrite grain.

Surface Treatment

Full Treatment
-

Annealing
Normalizing
Quenching and tempering
Martempering
Austempering

Carburizing
Nitriding
Carbonitriding
Nitrocarburizing
Boronizing
Induction hardening
Flame hardening
Laser hardening

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Heat Treatment of Steels : Metallurgy Principles

Heat Treatment of Steels : Recrystallization

Many metallic materials can be heat treated in order to improve

their properties such as hardness, fatigue strength, and wear
resistance.

The recrystallization of new grains.

- recrystallization of ferrite
- new strain-free of ferrite grain nucleate

Steel heat treatment processes are based on

1) The recrystallization of new grains.
- recrystallization of ferrite
- recrystallization of austenite
2) The different transformation of austenite into the final
microstructures.
3) Precipitation hardening

- crystallization of austenite in ferrite + pearlite

- austenite nucleate from ferrite within pearlite

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Heat Treatment of Steels : Transformation of Austenite

Heat Treatment of Steels

Steels are iron alloys containing some other elements such as

C, Mn, Cr, Si, etc.
At high temperature, austenite is the stable phase. It can then
be transformed into different microstructure depending on
the cooling rates and its composition.
Austenite

Bainite

Ferrite + Pearlite/ Cementite

.
+ Pearlite

Austenite

Approach equilibrium microstructure

Annealing
- Stress-relief annealing
- Recrystallization annealing
- Spheroidize annealing

Quenching &
Tempering
Austempering and
martempering

Tempered
Martensite

Induction Hardening
Flame Hardening
Laser Hardening

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Heat Treatment of Steels : Stress-relief annealing

Kitkamhorn, U.

TTT and CCT

are useful tools
for treatment
design

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Heat Treatment of Steels :Recrystallization annealing

The purpose of this process is to reduce residual stress caused

by cold forming, thermal strain, machining, and transformation
of the microstructure.
In case of low alloy steels, the steels were treated at a
temperature up to 650C for 1 hr or longer and then cooled in
still air.

The purpose of this process is to change a microstructure of

a heavily cold-deformed steel. The microstructure changes
as a results of recrystallization of new strain-free grain. The
parts become soft enough to undergo further cold
deformation without fracturing.

Ref: Linde booklet: Furnace Atmosphere No.2

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Normalizing

Martensite

cooling rate

Modified from William D., and Jr. Callister, 2007

Non-equilibrium microstructure

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Ref: Linde booklet: Furnace Atmosphere No.2

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