The Heat Treatment of Steel

Heat treatment of steel refers to time- and temperature-controlled processes that relieve residual stresses and/or modifies material properties such as hardness (strength), ductility, and toughness. Other mechanical or chemical operations are sometimes grouped under the heading of heat treatment. The common heat-treating operations are annealing, quenching, tempering, and case hardening.

Annealing

When a material is cold- or hot-worked, residual stresses are built in, and, in addition, the material usually has a higher hardness as a result of these working operations. These operations change the structure of the material so that it is no longer represented by the equilibrium diagram. Full annealing and normalizing is a heating operation that permits the material to transform according to the equilibrium diagram. The material to be annealed is heated to a temperature that is approximately 100°F above the critical temperature. It is held at this temperature for a time that is sufficient for the carbon to become dissolved and diffused through the material. The object being treated is then allowed to cool slowly, usually in the furnace in which it was treated. If the transformation is complete, then it is said to have a full anneal. Annealing is used to soften a material and make it more ductile, to relieve residual stresses, and to refine the grain structure.

The term annealing includes the process called normalizing. Parts to be normalized may be heated to a slightly higher temperature than in full annealing. This produces a coarser grain structure, which is more easily machined if the material is a low-carbon steel. In the normalizing process the part is cooled in still air at room temperature. Since this cooling is more rapid than the slow cooling used in full annealing, less time is available for equilibrium, and the material is harder than fully annealed steel. Normalizing is often used as the final treating operation for steel. The cooling in still air amounts to a slow quench.

Quenching

The absence of full annealing indicates a more rapid rate of cooling. The rate of cooling is the factor that determines the hardness. A controlled cooling rate is called quenching. A mild quench is obtained by cooling in still air, which, as we have seen, is obtained by the normalizing process. The two most widely used media for quenching are water and oil. The oil quench is quite slow but prevents quenching cracks caused by rapid expansion of the object being treated. Quenching in water is used for carbon steels and for medium-carbon, low-alloy steels.

The effectiveness of quenching depends upon the fact that when austenite is cooled it does not transform into pearlite instantaneously but requires time to initiate and complete the process. Since the transformation ceases at about 800°F, it can be prevented by rapidly cooling the material to a lower temperature. When the material is cooled rapidly to 400°F or less, the austenite is transformed into a structure called martensite. Martensite is a supersaturated solid solution of carbon in ferrite and is the hardest and strongest form of steel.

If steel is rapidly cooled to a temperature between 400 and 800°F and held there for a sufficient length of time, the austenite is transformed into a material that is generally called bainite. Bainite is a structure intermediate between pearlite and martensite. Although there are several structures that can be identified between the temperatures given, depending upon the temperature used, they are collectively known as bainite. By the choice of this transformation temperature, almost any variation of structure may be obtained. These range all the way from coarse pearlite to fine martensite. 

Tempering

When a steel specimen has been fully hardened, it is very hard and brittle and has high residual stresses. The steel is unstable and tends to contract on aging. This tendency is increased when the specimen is subjected to externally applied loads, because the resultant stresses contribute still more to the instability. These internal stresses can be relieved by a modest heating process called stress relieving, or a combination of stress relieving and softening called tempering or drawing. After the specimen has been fully hardened by being quenched from above the critical temperature, it is reheated to some temperature below the critical temperature for a certain period of time and then allowed to cool in still air. The temperature to which it is reheated depends upon the composition and the degree of hardness or toughness desired.8 This reheating operation releases the carbon held in the martensite, forming carbide crystals. The structure obtained is called tempered martensite. It is now essentially a superfine dispersion of iron carbide(s) in fine-grained ferrite.

The effect of heat-treating operations upon the various mechanical properties of a low alloy steel is shown graphically in Figure.

The effect of thermal mechanical history on the mechanical properties of AISI4340 steel
(Prepared by the International Nickel Company)

Case Hardening

The purpose of case hardening is to produce a hard outer surface on a specimen of low carbon steel while at the same time retaining the ductility and toughness in the core. This is done by increasing the carbon content at the surface. Either solid, liquid, or gaseous carburizing materials may be used. The process consists of introducing the part to be carburized into the carburizing material for a stated time and at a stated temperature, depending upon the depth of case desired and the composition of the part. The part may then be quenched directly from the carburization temperature and tempered, or in some cases it must undergo a double heat treatment in order to ensure that both the core and the case are in proper condition. Some of the more useful case-hardening processes are pack carburizing, gas carburizing, nitriding, cyaniding, induction hardening, and flame hardening. In the last two cases carbon is not added to the steel in question, generally a medium carbon steel, for example SAE/AISI 1144.