Control of heat treatment quality
Heat treatment project
CTU in Prague, FME
Materials Engineering
Thermal processing of metal alloys
Control changes of mechanical, physical, electrical and other
properties – always connected with structural or substructural
changes in treated material
Each heat treatment consist of three main periods:
Aim of heat treatment is to achieve more or less thermodynamically
equilibrium state (stable or metastable)
Thermal processing of metal alloys
Heat treatment (temperature effect)
• annealing (to get more stable state)
reduce internal stress, reach softer and ductile structure, …
• hardening (to get metastable state)
Increas of strength, hardness, wear resistance, …
Thermomechanical treatment
(effect of temperature and deformation)
control of final structure and mechanical properties
Chemical heat treatment
(effect of temperature and changes of the chemical composition)
to get different properties of surface layer as in core of the piece
– higher hardness, better wear or corrosion resistance, …
All steps of heat treatment
must be provided at proper conditions!
Heating
- controlled by heat conductivity of material and heat transfer conditions
• deformation, insufficient temperature in core
Dwell time
- controlled by required structural changes by diffusion.
homogeneous austenite, dissolving of minority phase (carbides)…
• prolonged time – negative effect - grain coarsening, oxidation, decarburization, …
Cooling rate
-controlled by required microstructural changes (CCT, TTT diagrams), reducing internal
stresses, …
• to slow - coarser and softer microstructure, tempering embrittlement, …
• to fast – high internal stresses, quench cracking , intensive deformation, …
Requirements on pieces after heat treatment
Appearance - surface quality - oxidation, deformation
Geometry - dimensions, deformations
Properties - hardness testing
- microstructure verification
Homogenity - presence of cracks (sound, impact check, NDT)
Hardness testing
• Hardness is determined in drawings or by other technical documentation.
• Hardness measurement is typical and the most used method for monitoring
of heat treatment results and confirmation of customer requirements.
• Standard static indentation methods are used
• Brinnell mild hard and soft materials, heterogeneous materials - surface
(Al alloys, Cu alloys, cast irons , annealed steels, … )
• Rockwell hard materials and mild hard materials - surface
qunched steel, surface quenched steel, carburized steel, …
• Vickers soft, mild soft, hard materials (including ceramics)
hardened layer depth measurement, thin sections, coatings,
selective measurements on microstructure components, …
Microscopic evaluation
• Hardness measurement is significant but not
conclusive result of the heat treatment quality.
• Microstructure analysis and documentation is
necessary to declare, that the heat treatment does
not negative influence on the properties – exclusion
of undesirable defects in microstructure.
• Necessary method for measuremnts and evaluation
of the depth of hardened layers or coatings.
Macro - micro
Macrostructure
1) heterogeneity of chemical composition of alloys
and mixtures at different cross sections
2) macroscopic structural units formed during
crystallization or solidification
3) macroscopic structural units formed of metal
forming, shaping of non-metals and materials for
joining by welding, brazing or adhesive bonding
or other processing technologies
Macrostrcture
4) the heat afected depth of the heat transfer or the
surface layers of the mass transfer (diffusion)
5) depth of surface damage due to corrosion or wear
6) fractures produced in operation by external forces
or environments
Microstructure
a) qualitative and quantitative phase composition,
which is preferably determined by diffraction
methods
b) types and proportional fractions of microstructural
components and other microstructural features
determined by imaging methods
Microstructure
c) morphology of microstructural components and
units, ie. their shape, size, distribution and
preferred orientation (texture)
d) qualitative and quantitative characteristics of
lattice defects, macromolecules, or amorphous
regions, which are also known as substructure.
WELD
WELD
Carbon steel
Duplex (austenitic-feritic steinless steel
Friction weld
WELD
Weld metal Parent (base) metal
Low carbon ferritic-pearlitic steel
Casting
Shrinkage porosity
Casting
Grain growth in casting
Forming (rolling)
Bands of pearlite (dark grains)
Linespacing of MnS inclusions
Texture - pefered orientation
Martensite
Low alloyed steel
High speed steel
martensite and carbides
Martensite
substructure
TEM and HRTEM microscopy
Layers - chemical heat treatment
Nitrocarburised steel
Coatings
Microstructures after normalizing
150 mm 150 mm
150 mm 150 mm
Pearlite spherodisation
ifluence of time at elevated temprature (700 °C)
SOFT ANNELING
30 mm 30 mm 30 mm
Lamelar pearlite Globular pearlite
Decarburisation
40 mm 40 mm
Surface decarburisation Core decarburisation
Decarburisation, overlap
forging, shot peening etc.
Martensite
50 mm 50 mm 25 mm
Martensite and retained austenite
Quenching - overheated
coarse martensite
15 mm 15 mm
intergranular fracture
25 mm 17 mm
Tempering - sorbite
30 mm 30 mm
30 mm 30 mm
Measurement of depth of hardened layers
on metalographic sections
1. Carburised or carbonitrided parts (EN ISO 2639)
Hardness Limit = 550 HV
CHD (Eht) = Distance from surface to point where hardness is 550 HV
2. Induction or flame hardened parts (EN 10328, ISO 3754)
Hardness Limit = 80 % × (Minimum) surface hardness.
CHD (Rht) = Distance from surface to point where hardness is 80 % of (minimum)
surface hardness.
3. Nitrided parts (DIN 50190-3)
Hardness Limit = Core Hardness +50 HV.
CHD (Nht, NCD) = (Max.) Distance from the surface to the point where
hardness is 50 HV1 above core hardness
Case hardening
800 1.1
1: Hardness Profile
1 2: C-Profil
Hardness [ HV 1 ]
C - content [ wt. - % ]
600 0.9
400 0.7
2
200 0.5
0 0.3
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Distance from the surface [mm]
Case hardening
Case depth (CHD)
800
700 Core hardness 417
Hardness HV 1
HV 30
600
500
400
300
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Distance from the surface (mm)
Teething Tooth space
Case hardening - defect
30 mm 30 mm
Net of secondary cementite on grain boundaries of prior austenite
30 mm 30 mm
Retained austenite, net of secondary cementite
Typical nitrided layer
Hardness course of nitrided layers
Defect of nitriding
30 mm 30 mm
Net of nitrides on grain boundaries of prior austenite
