ground to remove at least 0.06 in. (1.5 mm) from the ~ ~ 0 , ~ 0 ~ 0 T c = (T F - 32)/1 8
exposed surface and polished. Three or more diamond
,oa ~'~~ 8 ' ' ' ~
pyramid (HV) hardness measurements with 20 kg load t I I,, i I i I i ~ t
0 02 04 06 08 10
were made for each specimen. In those few instances,
CARBON, percent
where all three hardness readings were not identical,
Fig, l ~ H a r d n e s s of t e m p e r e d m a r t e n s i t e in i r o n - c a r b o n a l -
additional hardness measurements were taken after loy.
regrinding and polishing.
The m i c r o s t r u c t u r e of all specimens was examined
resisting softening on tempering can be added. The
after etching in picral and nital solutions. Photomi-
resistance to softening thus can be shown as an in-
crographs were taken to illustrate the effect of each
c r e a s e in the hardness (~ffIV) over that which would be
element on m i c r o s t r u c t u r e .
obtained by tempering an F e - C alloy. When r e f e r r i n g
to the effect of various alloying elements on tempering
RESULTS response in the figures and discussion, the term in-
c r e a s e in hardness (AHV) due to the alloy will be un-
F e - C Alloys
derstood to be a measure of the resistance to soften-
Results for iron-carbon alloys with carbon content ing imparted by the alloying element.
ranging from 0.12 to 0.97 pct, are shown graphically Figure 2 shows typical mtcrographs of specimens
in Fig. 1. The measured hardness of each specimen chosen to illustrate the effect of carbon on quenched
is represented by a point, and a smooth curve is martensite and on martensite tempered one hour at
drawn through the points for each tempering tempera- 1300~ (704~ In the as-quenched condition, so-
ture to show the hardness at any carbon content. called lath martensite is present at 0.12 pct carbon
The relation between carbon content and hardness and plate martensite at 0.42 and 0.97 pct carbon.
for as-quenched martensite is somewhat lower than Somewhere between 0.12 and 0.42 pct carbon, the
the relation shown by Bain and Paxton 2 but agrees r e - structure changes from lath to plate martensite; the
markably well, as seen in Fig. 1, with that obtained by transition is probably gradual, since the hardness
Jaffe and Gordon 5 for samples water quenched and curve exhibits no discontinuity in hardness.
then cooled t o - 320~ (-196~ The hardness of as- When Fe-C alloys are tempered at 1300~ hardness
quenched martensite of a particular carbon content does not increase greatly with carbon content (Fig. 1).
was not changed significantly as a result of adding Figure 2 indicates that with increasing carbon content,
manganese or other alloying elements. Thus, the the cementite particles become larger r a t h e r than
curve for as-quenched martensite is the maximum more numerous; thus, the mean distance between par-
hardness attainable by quenching to martensite in all ticles, which principally determines hardness, changes
the carbon and low alloy steels investigated, and the relatively little.
alloy content apparently did not change the retained
austenite content of the steels sufficiently to affect
Fe-0.5Mn-C Alloy
the as-quenched hardness. However, the curves for
all tempered specimens are higher when alloying ele- A s e r i e s of five alloys, all containing 0.5 pct man-
ments are added to F e - C alloys. The curves of Fig. 1 ganese with carbon varying in the range 0.07 to 0.78
thus serve as a base to which the effect of the alloy in pct, was investigated to determine the quantitative
0.12C
0.42C
0.97C
600 / 55
O
"" ~ 0 " ~ ~0~ 15
400 40 i
25
20 --
//
/<.,,/.S /
500*F~. / - ~
]
t e m p e r i n g t e m p e r a t u r e s and found to be r e a s o n a b l y
valid within the composition r a n g e s investigated.
, / 4 t ~ 1 7~ 6 t / I F
0 0.4 08 12 16 20
Effect of Different Amounts of Manganese
MANGANESE, percent
R e s u l t s for six p u r e s t e e l s containing 0.2 pct c a r - Fig, 5--~crease in hardness d u e to m a n g a n e s e Jn 0 . 2 p c t
bon and different amounts of manganese in the range carbon, quenched and tempered steels.
0.35 to 1.97 pct a r e given in Fig. 4. The points for
z e r o manganese were taken from the e a r l i e r r e s u l t s convenient f o r m in Fig. 5 by plotting the i n c r e a s e in
f o r F e - C a l l o y s (Fig. 1). The data show that when t e m - the t e m p e r e d h a r d n e s s of the 0.2 pct carbon s t e e l r e -
p e r e d at 400~ (204~ i n c r e a s i n g manganese content sulting f r o m v a r i o u s manganese additions. The effect
did not r e s u l t in a higher h a r d n e s s than that of the of manganese on the h a r d n e s s of t e m p e r e d m a r t e n s i t e
F e - C alloy t e m p e r e d at 400~ (204~ but substantially is shown to i n c r e a s e f r o m z e r o at 400~ (204~ in a
higher h a r d n e s s e s w e r e obtained for the manganese r e g u l a r manner with t e m p e r i n g t e m p e r a t u r e to 800~
containing a l l o y s at t e m p e r i n g t e m p e r a t u r e s of 600~ (427~ In the r e g i o n f r o m 800~ to 1300~ the h a r d -
(316~ and above. Note that the curve for 1300~ ness i n c r e a s e v a r i e s about an a v e r a g e value. The
(704~ t e m p e r i n g ends at about 1.2 pct manganese b e - v a r i a t i o n is ~10 HV V i c k e r s h a r d n e s s n u m b e r s in the
cause with m o r e than this amount of manganese, the region of 0.4 pct manganese and the amount of v a r i a -
A~ t e m p e r a t u r e is exceeded. tion is a minimum at 1.6 pct manganese.
The r e s u l t s a r e s u m m a r i z e d in a m o r e g e n e r a l and As manganese i n c r e a s e d , the a p p e a r a n c e of the m i -
0.35Mn i. 97Mn
E f f e c t s of O t h e r A l l o y i n g E l e m e n t s
In a m a n n e r s i m i l a r to that u s e d in d e t e r m i n i n g
the e f f e c t of m a n g a n e s e , the effect of i n c r e m e n t a l
a m o u n t s of the a l l o y i n g e l e m e n t s , P , Si, Ni, C r , Mo,
and V on the r e s p o n s e to t e m p e r i n g w e r e d e t e r -
m i n e d and the i n c r e a s e in h a r d n e s s o v e r that of an
F e - C a l l o y t e m p e r e d f o r 1 h at the s a m e t e m p e r a t u r e
was d e t e r m i n e d for e a c h i n c r e m e n t in a l l o y and f o r
e a c h of the t e m p e r i n g t e m p e r a t u r e s . F a m i l i e s of c u r v e s
s i m i l a r to t h o s e shown in F i g . 5 w e r e p l o t t e d f o r e a c h
a l l o y i n g e l e m e n t . T h e s e p l o t s w e r e u s e d to e x a m i n e
the effect of the v a r i o u s a l l o y i n g e l e m e n t s on t e m -
p e r i n g r e s p o n s e . H o w e v e r , the e f f e c t s a r e not shown
in this f o r m but a r e shown l a t e r in F i g s . 8 t h r o u g h 17,
w h e r e f o r a given t e m p e r i n g t e m p e r a t u r e , the in-
c r e a s e in h a r d n e s s o b s e r v e d for e a c h of the a l l o y i n g
e l e m e n t s is p l o t t e d a s a function of the a l l o y content.
Effect of P h o s p h o r u s . S i m i l a r d a t a w e r e o b t a i n e d
f o r t h r e e l e v e l s of p h o s p h o r u s (0.002, 0.064, o r 0.28 0 02 04 06 08 10
p c t p h o s p h o r u s ) in a 0.2 p c t c a r b o n - 0 . 5 p c t m a n g a n e s e CARBON percent
80
00_ _ -4q- J-
40 ; ; ;
/ J
~<_-L-_ i a , 1
II
7O t--~
F/:_I t ~ "~M~
.! ~
50 I
,
!
,
--
4( : : "
/ I .4I j,,," ~
I J/A I'I/ t
/ !
Jr A~ I i
;/__2_2 2o i 't ',-i
20 - - - - ~ --
X
Yt!, t ltl _
. . . . /
I l 7O~=F . . . . . I
7~: : : i
i i t , > 5( I i ] ,
601 ; , :
1 ! ,,I
> 501 ,i i
Me --
-1 : : : . . . . . v
~~ .... ~ I i. i,,l ; ~ - r ' l
"-+- ~ J I J'__4"-FI I1
30" ' ' .' ~ f/<"
/ 71
002 005 O~ Or5 02
ELEMENT, p e r c e n t
05 1 15
7
t II~/.-"
~."
"tj' FI " amount as the tempering temperature increased to
2(
1000~ (538~ At 1000 and II00~ (592~ the effect
.~ . I 1s ~' of molybdenum was the same, but the increase in hard-
ness was lower when tempering at 1200~ (649~
002 005 01 01502 05 1 lS 2
E L E f ~ E N T . #e~cent
Molybdenum is a potent addition to steels quenched
and tempered at 1000~ or above. It partitions to the
Fig. 16--Effect of elements on the h a r d n e s s of m a r t e n s i t e
tempered at 1200~ (649~ for 1 h. carbide phase at elevated temperatures, and thus
keeps the carbide particles small and numerous.
Effect of Vanadium. Because vanadium is a stronger
__ V carbide f o r m e r than chromium or molybdenum, it can
be expected to have a potent effect on the hardness of
tempered martensite. Vanadium carbide forms in
steel containing relatively small amounts of vanadium.
The effect of the vanadium contents shown in Table I
on tempering in a 0.19C-0.5Mn steel was determined.
The maximum increase in hardness, which o c c u r r e d
in specimens tempered at 1200~ was considerably
)/V 5 greater than that observed with other alloying ele-
~ /lJ .'I/1 Lkt ments, even though the maximum percentage of van-
adium added was only 0.18 pct. The effect of vanadium
increased steadily with increasing tempering t e m p e r a -
tures up to 1200~ Vanadium was also potent at
1300~ (704~ (only slightly below A1). The large ef-
IfiiIt fect of vanadium is probably due to the formation of an
006 O1 015 02 05 ~ 15
E L E M E N T , percent
alloy carbide (V4Cs or VC), which replaces cementite
Fig. t 7 - - E f f e c t of e l e m e n t s o n t h e hardness of martensite type carbide at high tempering temperatures and p e r -
t e m p e r e d at 1300~ (704~ f o r t h . sists as a fine dispersion up to the At temperature,
500 ~ I I I I [
C - 0 2 5 Mn-O 7g 800 -- 55
O\o
P-O 012 Sl-O 11
400
O
46
500
O\o O O 50
40
~> o ~
,z
45
w w
~ 35 ~
I c - o 50 ]:
400
P-O010 sl-o 22 ~
,%. 40
N;-0 66 Cr-051
300 30 Mo-0 22 0
O
25
~ 0 - 35
MEASURED
200
0 ESTIMATED
O
20 300
\o 25
1 I I I I I I I
I I I I I I I I I O 400 600 800 1000 1200
400 600 800 1060 1200
TEMPERING TEMPERATURE,~ (ONE HOUR)
TEMPERING TEMPERATURE,~ (ONE HOUR)
F i g . 1 9 - - C o m p a r i s o n of t h e m e a s u r e d (curve) and estimated
(a)
(points) hardness of tempered martensite i n a n A I S I 8650
steel.
TEMPERING TEMPERATURE ~
600 -- 55
O 45
~ -EO ~
z
< < 4o
I -- 45 2:
za:
400 40 <
-- 35 I
C-043 Mn-674
35 P-0 019 SI-0 23
Cr-0 92 V-016
300 ~ 3 0 - 3o
%,~, O - 25 0
%
20 300 % 25
200
400 600 800 1000 1200 %
20
TEMPERING TEMPERATURE,~ (ONE HOUR)
(b)
I I I I I I I I
F i g . 1 8 - - ( a ) C o m p a r i s o n of measured and estimated hardness
400 600 800 I(}00 1200
ij-I ,/ / ....i
tion because other factors are probably important.
-4
F o r example, when martensite is tempered below
600~ (316~ retained austenite is usually not t r a n s -
l~
iltitll //
formed, and quench tempering effects occur. F u r t h e r -
more, 400 (204~ to 600~ is the range in which ep-
silon is converted to cementite type carbide. These
changes are affected by such variables as austenitizing ::
i1,1111/1
temperature, specimen size, and severity of the
quench,
No attempt has been made to establish the predicted O2
e r r o r of this technique for calculating the hardness of
tempered martensite, but the results given in Figs.
18 through 20 should provide the r e a d e r with an ap-
o, i / tl/
preciation of the magnitude of the e r r o r that might be
expected. In general, the accuracy with which the
hardness of tempered martensite can be estimated
f r o m chemical composition by the method developed
in this investigation is good and the method is e a s i e r
= (T F -32)/1 8 T
to use and more reliable than e a r l i e r methods of e s -
timating the hardness of tempered martensite from t5 20 30 35
chemical compositions. PARAMETER~ (F + 460)(18 + ~o9 of t~me Jn hour~} • 10 3