Quenching and Tempering of Steels

Objectives

• To demonstrate the steel property of hardenability by conducting the Jominy test

• To demonstrate the general effects of alloying on steel hardenability
• To describe tempering treatment of martensite

Introduction

Heat treatment to produce high strength steels involves rapid cooling of an austenized
specimen in a quenching medium such as air, oil, or water to form martensitic
microstructure. Martensite is extremely hard but extremely brittle. The optimum
combination of strength and ductility for a given steel is obtained by a combination heat
treatment involving quenching and subsequent heating or tempering (Q&T). The success
of Q&T treatment depends on the ability of the steel to transform to martensite during the
quenching process; the formation of pearlite or bainite during cooling will limit the
martensite formation and hence lower the optimum strength. During the quenching
treatment, it is impossible to cool at a uniform rate over the whole specimen. The surface
will always cool more rapidly than the interior regions. Hence, the austenite will
transform over a range of cooling rates being highest at the surface and at lower cooling
rates at the interior regions. The result is a variation in microstructure and properties as a
function of cooling rates and position within the specimen. The heat treatment of steels to
produce martensitic microstructure throughout the specimen depends on three factors: (1)
the hardenability of the alloy, (2) the quenching medium, and (3) the size and shape of
the specimen.

Hardenability is a steel property which describes the depth to which the steel may be
hardened during quenching. It depends mainly on the chemical composition of the steel.
Plain carbon steels require very high cooling rates for martensite formation but when
other alloying elements such as Cr, Ni, Mn, and Mo are added the critical cooling rates is
reduced. For example, to fully transform AISI steel 1040 (0.4% wt. C) to martensite
requires a critical cooing rate of 140 ºC/s. However, adding 2% Ni, 0.8% Cr, and 0.2%
Mo (as in AISI 4340) will lower the critical cooling rates to 8.3 ºC/s. A steel alloy that
has a high hardenability is one that forms martensite over a large fraction of the
specimen. Hardenability of steels is measured by a standard test called the Jominy Test.
The test involves heating a standard cylindrical steel specimen (25mm diameter and
100mm long) to the austenization temperature and quenching from one end with a
controlled jet of water as illustrated in Figure 1. After quenching the hardness profile is
measured at intervals from the quenched end after the surface has been ground back to
remove any effects of decarburization. The hardness variation along the specimen length
is the result of microstructural variation which arises since the cooling rate decreases with
distance from the quenched end. The cooling rate along the Jominy test specimen varies
from about 225 °C/s at the water jet to 2 °C/s at the other end. The Jominy test results are
called hardenability curves which plot the hardness in HRC as a function of distance from
the jet. Figure 2 compares the hardenability curves for five steels with different

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hardenability. As can be inferred, alloy 4340 has the highest hardenability while 1040 has
the lowest.
Figure 1

Figure 2

Tempering of Martensite If we reheat martensite at 250-450C° for one hour, we get

tempered martensite. The tempering reaction in martensite occurs by the decomposition
of martensite into ferrite and cementite:

martensite(BCT, single phase) →tempered martensite (α (ferrite) + Fe3C (cementite))

The tempered martensite structure provides the best combination of strength and ductility
available in steel microstructures. Figure 3 shows the variation in hardness for tempered
4340 steel as a function of tempering temperature conducted for one hour tempering

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treatment. Note that as the tempering temperature is increased, the drop in strength and
the gain in ductility increase.

Figure 3

Experimental Procedure

Jominy Test:
• generate the hardenability curves for two alloy steels as given by your instructor

Steel Composition (wt.%)

817M40 0.4 wt.% C, 0.310 wt.% Cr, 1.466 wt.% Mn, 0.310 wt.% Mo

• austenize the two specimens at 860 ºC

• quench in the Jominy test setup
• Grind one side of the specimen to a depth of 0.4 mm
• Measure the hardness (HRC) in intervals of 2 mm for the first 24 mm and in
intervals of 4 mm for the remaining length of the specimen.
• Report the data in the figure given below and indicate which steel has higher
hardenability
• Explain the difference in hardenability in terms of the steel composition

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 Hardenability Curves for two steels

80

70

60

50
HRC

40

30

20

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
distance (mm)

Tempering Treatment:
• Austenize a number of eutectoid steel specimens at 750 ºC.
• Quench in tap water
• Measure the HRC
• Temper two specimens at each of the following tempering temperatures for one
hour: 250 C, 350, and 450 C.
• Measure the HRC for the tempered specimens
• Report the data on a plot of HRC vs. tempering temperature for one hour
treatment on the data shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4