Heat Treatment
Amir Tawfiq
What is heat treatment?
Heat treatment is a process of heating and then cooling metals using predefined
methods to achieve desired mechanical properties like hardness, ductility, toughness,
strength etc. It is the combination of thermal, industrial and metalworking processes to
change the mechanical properties as well as chemical properties of metals.
In simple words, heat treatment is a process of heating the metal, holding it there for
some time and then cooling it back. During the whole process, the mechanical
properties get changed due to change in microstructure.
All metallic metals have grains which are nothing but microstructures of crystals. The
nature of those grains determines the behavior of mechanical properties of a metal. Heat
treatment change that mechanical structure by controlling the rate of diffusion and rate
of cooling within that microstructure.
Why heat treatment is done?
Heat treatment is done to cahnge the mechanical, chemical and electrical properties of
metal so that it is suitable for industries to use.
Heat Treatment Of Steel: Process steps
The properties of heat-treated materials vastly depend on the processes that it has to
undergo. Below are those key processes of heat treatment.
• Heating
• Holding
• Cooling
Heating
The first step in the heat treatment process is heating the metal. The temperature
depends on the types of metal and the technique used. Sometimes you just need to heat
the outer surfaces of the metal and sometimes you need to heat the whole body. That
depends on what kind of alteration you want in the mechanical structure.
Below are different furnaces that are used for heating metals in heat treatment process.
• Box type furnace
• Batch furnace
• Elevator type furnace
• Bell-type furnace
• Pit type furnace
• Salt bath furnace
• Fluidised bed furnace
Holding
During the holding process, the metal is kept at achieved temperature for some period
of time. The time required depends on the type of metals and also the type of
mechanical properties that are expected.
The holding time also depends on the part size. If the part is large it is kept in holding
state for more time than the same type of metals having a small part size.
Cooling
After the holding process, cooling starts. The cooling must be done as per prescribed
manner. During cooling, there are some structural changes occurs. Different media such
as water, oil, or forced air is used to aid in cooling. You can also use furnaces for
cooling purpose as the control environments help in efficient cooling.
Heat Treatment Techniques
Following are few common heat treatment technique used in industries.
• Annealing
• Normalizing
• Hardening
• Tampering
• Curborization
• Quenching
Annealing
Annealing is a heat treatment process which is used to soften the metal. In other words,
annealing helps to improve ductility, machineability and toughness. On the flip side, the
hardness of metals gets reduced. Annealing does this by changing the microstructure of
metals.
Annealing is done by heating the metals at the above critical temperature, hold it there
for some time and then cool it at a very slow rate in the furnace itself. Annealing is
usually done on ferrous and non-ferrous metals to reduce hardness after the cold
working process. Annealing is also done to improve the electric conductivity of the
metal.
Types Of Annealing
There are two types of annealing process which are shown below.
• Process Annealing
• Full Annealing
Process Annealing
Process annealing is done when metal is heated below the critical temperature, keep it
for a suitable time and then cool it slowly. This process is suitable for low carbon steel
like sheet metal and wires. No phase transformation occurs during process annealing
and it’s considerably cheaper than full annealing
Full Annealing
Full annealing is done when metal is heated above the critical temperature. This process
is suitable for low and high carbon steel. Phase transformation occurs during full
annealing process and it is a costly operation than process annealing.
Annealing Process
Why Annealing is done?
• To relieve internal stress
• To reduce the hardness of a metal
• To increase ductility, maintainability, and toughness of metal
• Refine the grain structure of metals
Normalizing
Normalizing is also similar to annealing but the metal is air-cooled instead of other
mediums used in the furnace. The metal is heated above the critical temperature, kept in
there for some time and allow it to cool down under open air. Normalizing is usually
done for low carbon to high carbon steel.
Please make a note that normalizing does not make metals that much softer as in the
case with annealing but it allows to convert uniform grain structure and internal stresses
are also relieved. Normalizing is usually done on carbon steels.
Why normalizing is done?
• To get a uniform grain structure in carbon steel
• To relieve internal stress
• To improve the machinability and strength of carbon steel
Normalizing Process
Hardening
As the name suggests, hardening is used to increase the hardness of a metal. This is
usually done by heating the metal above normalization temperature, keeping it at
normalization temperature, and then rapidly quenching ( Cooling) it in water, oil or
brine solution.(Salt solution)
The heat required depends on the size and the required mechanical properties of the
metal. Often after hardening, tampering is done to increase the ductility and toughness
of metals.
Why hardening is done?
• To increase the hardness of metals
• To improve the magnetizing properties
• To reduce ductility and toughness
• To reduce grain size
Hardening Process
Types Of Hardening
• Case Hardening / Surface hardening
• Flame Hardening
Case Hardening / Surface Hardening
Case hardening or surface hardening is a hardening heat-treatment process. In the case
of hardening, the complete metal piece is heated. But in the case of case hardening,
only the outer surface is heat-treated to make it hardened. The inner metal is still soft
and ductile.
Case hardening is widely used for tool and die industry where the tool surface needed to
hardened but the inner metal piece has to remain ductile.
Types Of case hardening
Nitriding
• Nitriding is a case hardening process in which nitrogen gas is used to harden
the outer surface of the metal. The metal is heated in an ammonia (NH3)
atmosphere and then it is cooled.
Cyaniding
• Cyaniding is a case hardening process in which the metal piece is immersed
into a bath of molten sodium or potassium cyanide. After that, the metal piece is
cooled into lime water so that cyanide salt is sticking to the outer surface of the
metal. This cyanide salt is responsible for hardening the outer surface of the
metal.
Induction Hardening
• part is induction heated and then quenched. The quenched metal undergoes a
martensitic transformation, increasing the hardness and brittleness of the part.
Induction hardening is used to selectively harden areas of a part or assembly
without affecting the properties of the part as a whole.
Case Hardening Process
Flame Hardening
In flame hardening, only a portion of the metal piece is hardened. This is different from
differential hardening where the whole metal piece getting hardened by the different
heat-treatment process
Flame Hardening
Tampering
Tampering is done on metals which are already hardened. We all know that sometimes
our application needs metal to be hardened as well as tough. Tampering helps to
achieve the required toughness by low the hardness. Tampering is a very common
process for machine tools, knives etc.
Tampering is usually done by heating the metal at a relatively low temperature. The
temperature depends on the required mechanical properties of metals. if you want high
ductility, then you need to heat it at high temperature. But if you need low ductility,
then the low temperature is sufficient.
Why Tampering is done?
• To improve ductility
• To reduce hardness
• To relieve internal stress
• To reduce brittleness
Tampering Process
Carburization
In carburization, the hardness of the metal piece is increased by increasing the carbon
content. The metal piece is heated below the melting point with the presence of high
carbon materials such as charcoal. The heated metal piece then absorbs carbons to make
it more hard and brittle.
Carbonatization Process
Quenching
Quenching is a process of cooling metal piece quickly after it was heated. Quenching
helps metals to become harder or softer depending upon whether its a ferrous or non-
ferrous alloy. In the case of ferrous alloy, quenching helps to make it harder, but in the
case of non-ferrous, it becomes softer.
For quenching, the metal needs to be heated above the upper critical temperature and
then cool it rapidly under forced air, water, oil, nitrogen etc depending upon the type of
alloy and the desired mechanical properties. Some times when you do quenching too
quickly, metal forms crack due to excessive internal stress.
Advantages Of Heat Treatment
• Heat treatment assist in improving ductility of metal in the annealing process
• Heat treatment helps in hardening metals
• Case hardening helps in hardening only the outer surface of metal piece keeping rest of
the portion soft and ductile.
• Machinability of metals gets improved
• Resistance to corrosion capability gets enhanced
• Electrical and magnetic properties get improved
• Internal stresses are relieved
• The grain structure of metal get refined