01213211

MATERIALS SCIENCE
FOR ENGINEERS

METAL PROCESSING

Department of Materials Engineering

Faculty of Engineering
Kasetsart University
Metal Processing

Metal processing may be classified into:

[Link]: Sand, Investment, Die
[Link]: Rolling, forging, extrusion, drawing,
sheet forming, powder metallurgy and molding
[Link]
[Link]
[Link] finishing

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IRON & STEEL MAKING
Raw materials:
1. Iron ore

2. Limestone (calcium carbonate)

–remove impurities from molten iron

3. Coal (or Coke)

(a) generating heat for the
chemical reactions

(b) produce a reducing CO gas

Coal is heated in coke oven

to form coke.
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IRON & STEEL MAKING (cont.)
 Ironmaking process:
 Reactions of the three raw materials take place in blast furnace
 Main reaction: forming of CO (coke+O2), reduce iron oxide to iron

 Typical composition: high contents of C, Si and Mn

 Steelmaking process:
 Refine the molten metals from ironmaking process by reducing
C, Si and Mn and other elements
 Two typical furnaces:
 Basic oxygen furnace (BOF)  use O2 to refine the molten metal
 Electric arc furnace (EAF)  heat source is from the electric
arc between the electrodes

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Billets Slabs Blooms

Molten metals go through

continuous casting process to
produce  Blooms, Slabs, Billets

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 Slabs

Billets

Blooms

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Blast Furnace
• Blasting raw materials into the furnace
• Molten irons are taken out at the bottom

+ slag (by product) usually metal oxides and SiO2

Tapping at the cast house

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IRON & STEEL MAKING (cont.)
Electronic Arc Furnace (EAF)

350 ‐ 425 kWh for every ton of steel produced

Scrap (recycled) metal accounts for 80% of all electric arc furnace metal feedstock
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 Casting 1 (Sand)
1) Sand Casting
(large parts, e.g.,
auto engine blocks)

Ladle path/Gate
for molten metals
to flow in

Riser for overflow to

help compensate for
shrinkage of the part
during solidification

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Casting 1 (Sand)
Sand casting
 Advantages:
 Good for large parts
 Almost any metal cast
 Low tooling cost
 Disadvantages:
 Rough and coarse finishing (may required final finishing)
 Poor tolerance and precision (can’t make complex parts!)
 Slow process, low production volume

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Casting 2 (Investment)
2) Investment Casting
(low volume, complex shapes
e.g., jewelry, gas turbine blades)

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Casting 2 (Investment)
Investment casting
 Advantages:
 Complex part shapes
 Excellent surface finish
 Almost any metal cast
 Disadvantages:
 Slow process, low production volume
 Part size is limited
 Relatively high cost

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Casting 3 (Die)
3) Die Casting
High production volume, low melting-temp alloys
(e.g. Mg, Pb, Sn, Zn etc.)

Pressure Type: apply pressure to push molten metal into die

Finished
casting

Hot-chamber die casting

Cold-chamber die casting

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Casting 3 (Die)
 Advantages:
 Excellent dimension accuracy
 Excellent surface finish
 High production rate
 Mostly semi- or full automated process
 Disadvantages:
 High tools & die costs
 Limited part size
 Generally limit to nonferrous metals (low melting temp)
e.g. Mg, Pb, Sn, Zn

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Metal Forming
Metal working (hot work & cold work)

Permanent deformation of a material part into a desired Metal Recrys. Temp.

shape ( σy < stress <σT)
(C)
High Al 150
Hot Working Cu 200
Recrystallization Au 200
Temperature (~0.5Tm) Fe 450
Cold working
Pb Below room temp.
Low
Mg 150
Above recrystallization temp, the recrystallization of new Ni 590
grains can occur
Ag 200

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Metal Forming

Hot Working

Equiaxed grains
• Use less force and large deformation
• Poor surface finish (e.g. oxide scales) and tolerance
• The part is soft and ductile

Cold
ColdWorking
Working

• High strength but may have some residual stress Elongated grains
• Good surface finish and tolerance
• Cannot deform as much as hot working
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Metal Forming Overview (4 main)

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Metal Forming 1 (Rolling)
Metal working (hot work & cold work)
Rolling : the process of plastically deforming metal by
passing it between rolls
(I-beams, rails)

Hot rolling Cold rolling 18

Billets Slabs Blooms

Hot and Cold working in

steelmaking processes
Hot Rolling: large thickness
reduction
Pickling: remove some scales
from steel surface
Cold Reduction: increase
strength of the steel sheet

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 Plate mills

Cold strip mills

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Metal Forming 1 (Rolling)
Metal working (hot work & cold work)
• Rolling : (I-beams, rails)

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Metal Forming 2 (Forging)
Metal working (hot work & cold work)
Forging : the working of metal into useful shape by hammering or
pressing increasing the strength of forged parts by work hardening
(wrenches, crankshafts)

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Metal Forming 2 (Forging)

Hot Forging

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Metal Forming 2 (Forging)
Cold Heading: forming the head shape by forging and, at the same
time, work hardening of the nail head

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Metal Forming 3 (Extrusion)
Metal working (hot work & cold work)
Extrusion : the process by which a block of metal is reduced in
cross section by forcing it to flow through a die orifice under
high pressure

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Metal Forming 3 (Extrusion)
• Extrusion: Parts with uniform cross section through length
(rods, tubing)

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Metal Forming 4 (Drawing)
Metal working (hot work & cold work)
Drawing : pulling metal through a die by means of a tensile
force applied to the exit side of the side
(rods, wire, tubing, nails)

Cold work in reduce size but increases

mechanical strength:
e.g. increase strength of nails

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Metal Forming 4 (Drawing)
Wire‐drawing machine

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Thermal Processing of Metal

• Annealing process
• The heat treatment in which a material is exposed to an elevated
temperature for an extended time period and then slowly cooled

• Purposes: relieve stresses, increase softness, ductility, and

toughness, and/or produce a specific microstructure

• Processes: (1) heating to a desired temperature,

(2) holding at that temperature, and
(3) cooling

• Annealing of ferrous alloys

• Normalizing, Full anneal, and Spheroidizing

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 Thermal Processing of Metal
Normalizing 
(1) Heating at least 55°C above
+Fe3C
A3 or Acm,
(2) Holding until alloy transform to +
austenite completely,
+Fe3C
(3) Cooling in air
- Produce fine pearlite*
- Decrease the average grain size
of the steels that have been plastically
deformed by, for example, rolling

Full

*smaller and even distribution of grain size = stronger! 30

 Thermal Processing of Metal
Full anneal 
(1) Heating 30°C above A3 or A1,
+Fe3C
(2) Holding until alloy transform to
austenite or austenite+Fe3C +
(3) Slow furnace cool
+Fe3C

- Produce coarse pearlite which is relatively

soft and ductile

Full

*actually around 15‐40 C above A3 or A1 is still okay 31

Thermal Processing of Metal
Spheroidizing 
1) Heating the alloy at a temperature
below A1 and holding at that +Fe3C
temperature for 15 to 25 h
+
- Spheroidized steels have a
maximum softness and ductility and
+Fe3C
are easily machined or deformed

Full

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Thermal Processing of Metal
Precipitation Hardening
• Uniform dispersion of nanoscale precipitate
in the softer more ductile matrix
• Particles impede dislocation motion.
• Increase the yield strength.
• Ex. Al-Cu system

Procedure
-- Pt A: solution heat treatment
(get  solid solution)
-- Pt B: quench to room temp.
(retain  solid solution)
-- Pt C: reheat to nucleate small θ particles
within  phase
• Other alloys that can be
precipitation hardened
“aging” • Ni-based super alloy
• Titanium alloy
• Be-Cu
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Sheet Metal Processing:
Cutting, Bending, Drawing
Cutting:

Blanking  the cut piece is a workpiece

Punching  creating round or shaped holes  cut piece is scrap

Notching  removing a small metal piece from edge of workpiece

Notching

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Sheet Metal Processing:
Bending  permanent bend of a metal sheet

Drawing  forming a sheet into a cup‐shaped, box‐shaped, curve‐shaped part

(e.g soda can)

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Metal Forming (Special Case)
Powder Metallurgy (P/M)
• Produce near net shape and small-size parts
(e.g. hand-watch gears)
• Waste few materials
• Good for metals with high Tm
(e.g. W filament, had to cast metals)
• High costs (tooling and powders)

Sintering: heat treatment to bond

metallic particles
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Machining

A material removal process to

shape material parts

Advantages:
- High dimensional
accuracy and good
surface finish
- Variety of part shapes

Disadvantages:
- Wasteful of materials
- Time consuming

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Principle of Metal Cutting
 Cutting action involves shear deformation of work material to
form a chip
 As chip is removed, a new surface is exposed

Material removal by shear deformation

to form chip

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Principle of Metal Cutting
 Machinability of metals = ease with which metals can be
machined  by considering following criteria:
 Surface finish and perfection of the machined metal
 Tool life of the cutting tools used to cut the metal
 Cutting force and power required for machining the metal
 Chip-removal process: chips should be easily broken into
small pieces for easy handling

• Machinability of steels:
• Improve machinability of steels by alloying with
Lead (Pb) and Sulfur (S)  Free machining steel
• Chips can be easily broken into small pieces

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Principle of Metal Cutting
 Cutting tools and tool materials
must be harder than the cut workpiece:
 Toughness – avoid fracture failure
 Hot hardness – retain hardness at high T
 Wear resistance – resist abrasive wear
 Chemical stability

High Speed Steel: Carbide tip:

Solid tool-steel bar Insert made of carbides
High-alloyed tool steels with high (e.g. WC)
hardness at high temp
(e.g. W or Mo alloyed steels)
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Mechanical properties of tool
materials

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Classification of Machined Parts

Rotational: Nonrotational (also called prismatic):

Cylindrical or disk-like shape Block-like or plate-like shapes

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 Machining Operations and Part
Geometry

Turning:
- Single-point cutting edge
- Rotating cutpiece
- Generate a cylindrical
shape

Milling:
- Multiple cutting edge
- Rotating cutting tool
- Generate a planar
surface

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 Broaching:
- Multiple-tooth cutting tool
- Good surface finish and close tolerance
- Variety of worked shape (e.g. internal surface of a hole) possible

Drilling:
- Rotating cutting tool
- Create a round hole in a workpiece

Machine Forming to create shapes:

(a) turning, (b) drilling, and (c) broaching
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Combination of forming and generating to create
shape: (a) thread cutting (turning) on a lathe,
and (b) slot milling

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Welding Welding = เชื่อม
Welding Brazing = แล่นประสาน
(when one large part is impractical) Soldering = บัดกรี

*filler same as base metal, filler metal (melted)

both melt
base metal (melted)
fused base metal

heat affected zone (HAZ)

unaffected unaffected
piece 1 piece 2

* Heat affected zone (HAZ):

(region in which the microstructure has been changed).

## metal pieces must be similar, e.g. cannot weld Cu to steel ## 46

Welding

 Welding Metallurgy
 Heat affected zone (HAZ): e.g. welding cold-worked metals
 Heat during welding recrystallizes the elongated grains of cold-worked metal
 Grains away from the weld area  recrystallize into fine grains strong
 Grains close to the weld metal  grain growth  weak

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Welding

Some other problems that may be found in welding

• crack or fracture along welding area because of rapid heating and cooling rate in
the welding proximity (e.g. brittle martensite phase may form or different thermal
gradient causing residual stress)
• can minimize this effect by pre-heating the workpiece before welding process
for uniform temperature.

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 Classification of Welding
Processes
Liquid state  melting Solid state  heat
two parts to be and/or pressure
joined are used to
Some cases, filler achieve welding
metals with lower but no melting of
Tm than base base materials
metals may be
occur
used to assist
melting and
welding process

*IG = inert gas

• Consumable electrode: consumed during welding process  electrode is

the source of filler metal
• Nonconsumable electrode: not consumed during welding process  must
add any filler metals separately  typically made of tungsten to resist
melting
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Welding Processes
Gas Welding:
Oxygenfuel gas welding (OFW)  fuel gas + oxygen to produce
flame to melt metals
Common fuel gas  Acetylene (C2H2)
>3,000 ‐ 3,480 °C

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Welding Processes
Brazing is a joining process in which a filler metal is placed along a narrow
channel between the two surfaces to be joined and the temperature is
raised sufficiently to melt the filler metal (but not the base metal)
• Typical filler metals for brazing various metals and alloys:
(must have lower melting temp. than base metals)

*filler different from base metal

*soldering = below 450 C (aka low temp. brazing). Not as strong as Welding/Brazing.
Mainly for electrical conduction, not structurally strong!
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 Electric Arc Welding
Arc Shielding:
To protect metals from surrounding
air to avoid chemical reaction
Shielding by either:
- Shielding gas (e.g. Ar, He, CO2)
- Flux

An electric arc = discharge of electric current across a gap in a circuit

To initiate the arc in AW, electrode is brought into contact with
work and then quickly separated from it by a short distance
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 Electric Arc Welding
Metal lnert Gas welding (MIG)

Consumable electrode

Shielding inert
gas

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 Electric Arc Welding
Gas-Tungsten or Tungsten Inert-Gas Arc Welding (TIG)

Nonconsumable electrode

Shielding
inert gas

Filler material

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Surface Treatment

The quality of component’s surfaces can directly influence the part

performance as examples:
• Friction and wear of tools, molds and dies of the products made
• Appearance and their role in subsequent operation (e.g. subsequent
bonding or welding process)
• Crack initiation due to roughness
• Protective layer
(e.g. galvanized steels)
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Surface Treatment
 Mechanical polishing
improves smoothness and
precision, e.g. grinding,
lapping, polishing

 Plating deposits a thin layer of

materials onto the part surface to
enhance resistance to corrosion and
abrasion, e.g. electro-plating,
chrome plate, anodizing, galvanizing

 Surface hardening treatment is a

heat treatment under controlled
atmosphere to increase hardness
and wear resistance of the surface,
e.g. carburizing, nitriding, boronizing

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