Heat Treatment of Steels - The Processes

The Softening Processes

Annealing
Used variously to soften, relieve internal stresses, improve machinability and to develop
particular mechanical and physical properties.
In special silicon steels used for transformer laminations annealing develops the
particular microstructure that confers the unique electrical properties.
Annealing requires heating to above the As temperature, holding for sufficient time for
temperature equalisation followed by slow cooling. See Curve 2 in Figure 1.

Figure 1. An idealised TTT curve for a plain carbon steel.
Normalising
Also used to soften and relieve internal stresses after cold work and to refine the grain
size and metallurgical structure. It may be used to break up the dendritic (as cast)
structure of castings to improve their machinability and future heat treatment response
or to mitigate banding in rolled steel.
This requires heating to above the As temperature, holding for sufficient time to allow
temperature equalisation followed by air cooling. It is therefore similar to annealing but
with a faster cooling rate. Curve 3 in Figure I would give a normalised structure.
The Hardening Processes
Hardening
In this process steels which contain sufficient carbon, and perhaps other alloying
elements, are cooled (quenched) sufficiently rapidly from above the transformation
temperature to produce Martensite, the hard phase already described, see Curve 1 in
Figure 1.
There is a range of quenching media of varying severity, water or brine being the most
severe, through oil and synthetic products to air which is the least severe.
Tempering
After quenching the steel is hard, brittle and internally stressed. Before use, it is usually
necessary to reduce these stresses and increase toughness by 'tempering'. There will
also be a reduction in hardness and the selection of tempering temperature dictates the
final properties. Tempering curves, which are plots of hardness against tempering
temperature. exist for all commercial steels and are used to select the correct tempering
temperature. As a rule of thumb, within the tempering range for a particular steel, the
higher the tempering temperature the lower the final hardness but the greater the
toughness.
It should be noted that not all steels will respond to all heat treatment processes, Table
1 summaries the response, or otherwise, to the different processes.
Anneal Normalise Harden Temper
Low Carbon <0.3% yes yes no no
Medium Carbon 0.3-0.5% yes yes yes yes
High Carbon >0.5% yes yes yes yes
Low Alloy yes yes yes yes
Medium Alloy yes yes yes yes
High Alloy yes maybe yes yes
Tool Steels yes no yes yes
Stainless Steel (Austenitic eg 304, 306) yes no no no
Stainless Steels (Ferritic eg 405, 430 442) yes no no no
Stainless Steels (Martensitic eg 410, 440) yes no yes yes
Thermochemical Processes
These involve the diffusion, to pre-determined depths into the steel surface, of carbon,
nitrogen and, less commonly, boron. These elements may be added individually or in
combination and the result is a surface with desirable properties and of radically different
composition to the bulk.
Carburising
Carbon diffusion (carburising) produces a higher carbon steel composition on the part
surface. It is usually necessary to harden both this layer and the substrate after
carburising.
Nitriding
Nitrogen diffusion (nitriding) and boron diffusion (boronising or boriding) both produce
hard intermetallic compounds at the surface. These layers are intrinsically hard and do
not need heat treatment themselves.
Nitrogen diffusion (nitriding) is often carried out at or below the tempering temperature
of the steels used. Hence they can be hardened prior to nitriding and the nitriding can
also be used as a temper.
Boronising
Boronised substrates will often require heat treatment to restore mechanical properties.
As borides degrade in atmospheres which contain oxygen, even when combined as CO or
C02, they must be heat treated in vacuum, nitrogen or nitrogen/hydrogen atmospheres.
Processing Methods
In the past the thermochemical processes were carried out by pack cementation or salt
bath processes. These are now largely replaced, on product quality and environmental
grounds, by gas and plasma techniques. The exception is boronising, for which a safe
production scale gaseous route has yet to be developed and pack cementation is likely to
remain the only viable route for the for some time to come.
The gas processes are usually carried out in the now almost universal seal quench
furnace, and any subsequent heat treatment is readily carried out immediately without
taking the work out of the furnace. This reduced handling is a cost and quality benefit.
Table 2 (Part A). Characteristics of the thermochemical heat treatment processes.
Process Temp
(C)
Diffusing
Elements
Methods Processing
Characteristics
Carburising 900-
1000
Carbon Gas.
Pack.
Salt Bath.
Fluidised Bed.
Care needed as high temperature may cause
distortion
Carbo-
nitriding
800-880 Carbon
Nitrogen
mainly C
Gas.
Fluidised Bed.
Salt Bath.
Lower temperature means less distortion than
carburising.
Nitriding 500-800 Nitrogen Gas.
Plasma.
Fluidised Bed.
Very low distortion.
Long process times, but reduced by plasma and
other new techniques.
Nitro-
carburising
560-570 Nitrogen
Carbon
mainly N
Gas.
Fluidised Bed.
Salt Bath.
Very low distortion.
Impossible to machine after processing.
Boronising 800-
1050
Boron Pack. Coat under argon shield.
All post coating heat treatment must be in an
oxygen free atmosphere even CO and CO2are
harmful.
No post coating machining.
Table 2 (Part B). Characteristics of the thermochemical heat treatment processes.
Process Case
Characteristics
Suitable
Steels
Applications
Carburising Medium to
deep case.
Oil quench to
Mild, low carbon and low alloy steels. High surface stress conditions.
Mild steels small sections <12mm.
Alloy steels large sections.
harden case.
Surface
hardness 675-
820 HV (57-
62 HRC) after
tempering.
Carbo-
nitriding
Shallow to
medium to
deep case.
Oil quench to
harden case.
Surface
hardness 675-
820 HV (57-
62 HRC) after
tempering.
Low carbon steels. High surface stress conditions.
Mild steels large sections >12mm.
Nitriding Shallow to
medium to
deep case.
No quench.
Surface
hardness 675-
1150 HV (57-
70 HRC).
Alloy and tool steels which contain
sufficient nitride forming elements
eg chromium, aluminium and
vanadium. Molybdenum is usually
present to aid core properties.
Severe surface stress conditions.
May cinfer corrosion resistance.
Maximum hard ness and temperature
stability up to 200C.
Nitro-
carburising
10-20 micron
compound
layer at the
surface.
Further
nitrogen
diffusion zone.
Hardness
depends on
steel type
carbon & low
alloy 350-540
HV (36-50
HRC) high
alloy & toll up
to 1000 HV
(66 HRC).
Many steels from low carbon to tool
steels.
Low to medium surface stress
conditions.
Good wear resistance.
Post coating oxidation and
impregnation gives good corrosion
resistance.
Boronising Thickness
inversely
proportional
to alloy
content >300
microns on
mild steel 20
microns on
high alloy.
Do not exceed
30 microns if
Most steels from mild to tool steels
except austenitic stainless grades.
Low to high surface stress conditions
depending on substrate steel.
Excellent wear resistance.
part is to be
heat treated.
Hardness
>1500 HV
typical.
Techniques and Practice
As we have already seen this requires heating to above the As temperature, holding to
equalise the temperature and then slow cooling. If this is done in air there is a real risk
of damage to the part by decarburisation and of course oxidation. It is increasingly
common to avoid this by bright or close annealing using protective atmospheres. The
particular atmosphere chosen will depend upon the type of steel.
Normalising
In common with annealing there is a risk of surface degradation but as air cooling is
common practice this process is most often used as an intermediate stage to be followed
by machining, acid pickling or cold working to restore surface integrity.
Hardening
With many components, hardening is virtually the final process and great care must
taken to protect the surface from degradation and decarburisation. The seal quench
furnace is now an industry standard tool for carbon, low and medium alloy steels. The
work is protected at each stage by a specially generated atmosphere.
Some tool steels benefit from vacuum hardening and tempering, salt baths were widely
used but are now losing favour on environmental grounds.
Tempering
Tempering is essential after most hardening operations to restore some toughness to the
structure. It is frequently performed as an integral part of the cycle in a seal quench
furnace, with the parts fully protected against oxidation and decarburisation throughout
the process. Generally tempering is conducted in the temperature range 150 to 700C,
depending on the type of steel and is time dependent as the microstructural changes
occur relatively slowly.
Caution : Tempering can, in some circumstances, make the steel brittle which is the
opposite of what it is intended to achieve.
There are two forms of this brittleness
Temper Brittleness which affects both carbon and low alloy steels when either, they are
cooled too slowly from above 575C, or are held for excessive times in the range 375 to
575C. The embrittlement can be reversed by heating to above 575C and rapidly
cooling.
Blue Brittleness affects carbon and some alloy steels after tempering in the range 230 to
370C The effect is not reversible and susceptible steels should not be employed in
applications in which they sustain shock loads.
If there is any doubt consult with the heat treater or in house metallurgical department
about the suitability of the steel type and the necessary heat treatment for any
application.
Martempering and Austempering
It will be readily appreciated that the quenching operation used in hardening introduces
internal stresses into the steel. These can be sufficiently large to distort or even crack
the steel.
Martempering is applied to steels of sufficient hardenability and involves an isothermal
hold in the quenching operation. This allows temperature equalisation across the section
of the part and more uniform cooling and structure, hence lower stresses. The steel can
then be tempered in the usual way.
Austempering also involves an isothermal hold in the quenching operation, but the
structure formed, whilst hard and tough, does not require further tempering. The
process is mostly applied to high carbon steels in relatively thin sections for springs or
similar parts. These processes are shown schematically in the TTT Curves, (figures 2a
and 3b).

Figure 2. Temperature vs. time profiles for (a) austempering and (b) martempering.
Localised hardening sometimes as flame hardening, laser hardening, RF or induction
hardening and electron beam hardening depending upon the heat source used. These
processes are used where only a small section of the component surface needs to be
hard, eg a bearing journal. In many cases there is sufficient heat sink in the part and an
external quench is not needed. There is a much lower risk of distortion associated with
this practice, and it can be highly automated and it is very reproducible.