Rotor Manufacturing Report:

Objective:
To Manufacture Brake Disc rotors for XXI-H and PE-03, whilst gaining hands-on experience in
designing and manufacturing the component. This also renders the cars built and not bought,
fetching us more design points by impressing the judges at the events.

Heat Treatment:

The Process undergone by a material that effects the microscopic structure and grains, and
thus the behaviour of the material under heavy load and rough usage.

Purpose- Steel, upon treatment improves its mechanical properties such as tensile strength,
yield strength, Abrasion and Wear resistance, Corrosion Resistance and Toughness. It also
relieves accumulated internal stresses and improve machinability.

This is accomplished due to the heat treatment fundamentally altering the microstructure of
the steel.

1. Annealing:

The Process during which steel is heated in an oven to a temperature slightly above its
critical point (Where entire steel converts to austenite) and maintained for a considerable
amount of time (about 30-60 mins) and then allowed to cool slowly in the oven itself, by the
help of hot sand/dust, is called Annealing.

 Relieves Internal Stresses

 Softens it, making it less brittle and less likely to crack
 Improves Machinability and ready for cold working
 It Refines grain structure and size
 Increase ductility
2. Hardening:
Steel is heated gradually and uniformly by direct/indirect methods to a temperature well
above its Critical temperature and maintained there for a certain period of time to ensure
entire steel converts to austenite. Then, it is rapidly cooled by quenching in oil to ensure
all austenite remains even after reaching room temperature.

 Increases Hardness, ie. The ability to resist indentation/abrasion caused by

external forces
 Reduces ductility
 Small Grain size
 High wear and shock resistance

3. Tempering:
Tempering is a process performed after the steel has been hardened and quenched. It is
done by heating steel in an oven to a temperature less than its critical temperature. It is
then cooled by using Water/Oil/Sand depending on desired characteristics. This process
is a trade of between Hardness vs Ductility & Toughness.

Different coloured steels are obtained at different temperatures of tempering.

 To induce toughness and ductility by reducing brittleness, at the cost of hardness.

 Prevents cracking during machining

4. Normalizing:

Normalizing is the process of heating steel to a high temperature well above its
upper critical temperature and maintaining for a particular time.
Then, it is slowly allowed to cool in air at room temperature (Air Quenching)
It results in steel with microstructures containing only Pearlite, Ferrite and Cementite.
 Refine Grain structure
 Improve machinability
 Increase Impact Strength, Yield strength and Ultimate tensile strength.
 Reduce internal Stresses
5. Case Hardening:

Steel undergoes a process during which it is made to be surface hardened by

infusing Nitrogen, carbon atoms from external sources. It is called as Carbonitriding,
Nitriding, etc.
It is then cooled rapidly and quenched.
 Surface texture is extremely hard
 Ductility and toughness are maintained
 Impact and shock resistance is developed
 Abrasion, wear resistance is high.