Heat Treatment of Steel

Dom Dezort
Period 1
February 25, 2020
Purpose:
The objective of this lab is to test which heat treatment of metals is best used to increase their
hardness and “workability.” The heat treatments used were annealing, hardening, and tempering.
The hypothesis is if annealing is used on a bobby pin then it will be. harder to break because this
process softens the metal and makes it less brittle which in turn would make it easier to bend, but
harder to break.
Materials:
• Bobby Pins (made of steel)
• Bunsen Burner
• Beaker (250mL)
• Wire Gauze
• Crucible tongs
• Pliers
• Tap Water
Procedure:
The lab consisted of four trials: the control, annealing, hardening, and tempering. In the control
experiment, the bobby pin was unbent into two straight sections. One of the straight sections was
held with a set of pliers. The bobby pin was bent back and forth until it broke. The number of
times the pin was bent back and forth was recorded on a piece of paper. This trial was repeated
two more times and an average was calculated for the number of times the bobby pin could be
bent back and forth. The next trial was considered annealing. The bobby pin was heated with a
Bunsen burner until the metal was red hot. Once the metal. was hot enough, it was placed onto a
wire mesh so it could be cooled to room temperature. This was repeated two more times. Once
the pins were cooled to room temperature, the treated pins were bent back and forth until they
broke, and the data was recorded. The next trial was considered hardening. The heating of the
three bobby pins was repeated, but after it was immediately dropped into a beaker filled with
cold water. The pins were removed, dried, bent back and forth until they broke, and the data was
recorded. The last trial was tempering. Three pins were heated and then quenched in water. They
were taken out and then reheated using the Bunsen burner until it acquired a blue oxide coating.
Once that was achieved, the pins were put on the wire gauze to cool. Upon reaching room
temperature, the treated pins were bent back and forth until they broke, and the data was
recorded.
Data:
Table 1: The Heat Treatment method of Steel
 Heat treatment Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average
Control 4 5 4 4.3
Annealing 17 25 21 21
Hardening 1 1 1 1
Tempering 16 13 12 13.7

Discussion of Theory:
Heat treatment of metals is beneficial because it can increase a metal’s hardness and malleability.
Annealing, hardening, and tempering are three types of heat treatment. These heat treatments
change the physical properties of metals, which is related to the crystal structure of the metal. By
heating a metal, the temperature changes the arrangement of the crystal structure. This causes a
metal to become softer or harder and more brittle, depending on the heat treatment that is used.
Annealing involves heating steel to a high temperature, then slowly cooling it to room
temperature. This results in the microstructure of steel to have a high ductility and toughness, but
in return, a low hardness. Steel is annealed so it can reduce the requirements of energy and load.
Annealing enables the steel to undergo great amounts of strain without failure. The elimination
of internal stress makes it easier to work. The hypothesis is supported by the data from table 1, as
well as, data collected from research.
Overall, annealing is beneficial for the workability and toughness of the metal. Although
it causes the metal to become soft, it allows the metal to undergo large amounts of force without
cracking or breaking. This can be useful in many real-world applications when engineering
buildings and bridges.
Conclusions:
The hypothesis of the experiment is supported by the experiment. The hypothesis stated that the
best heat treatment method would be annealing. According to the data in Table 1, annealing had
the highest average number of times a bobby pin can be bent back and forth before it will break.
Annealing is the process of strong heating followed by slow cooling. It softens the metal
and makes it less brittle. This makes the metal very durable and harder to break. When the metal
is softened, it becomes very malleable, so the metal can bend back and forth easily.
Hardening is the process of strong heating followed by “quenching” or rapid cooling. It
makes the metal very rigid and brittle which is why it was so easy to break. Since the metal is so
rigid and brittle, the bobby pin broke in half as soon as pressure was applied. The metal was very
fragile so it could be easily broken.
The last heat treatment used was tempering which is the process of strong heating and
rapid cooling followed by a gentle reheating and a slow cooling. It reduces the metals extreme
hardness and increases its toughness, which makes it durable, but not as durable as annealing.
Sources of Errors:
In this experiment, instrumental and human error. One source of error could have been the
Bunsen burner was at too low of a temperature which would have caused the metal to not be hot
enough and caused an undesired effect in the heat treatment. Another source of error could be the
amount of pressure applied by the person who bent the bobby pin back and forth.
Questions:
There are many differences between ionic, molecular, and metallic bonds. A covalent bond is a
formation of two nonmetals that have similar electronegativities. Metallic bonds form between
two metals when they share electrons within their metal lattice. Ionic bonds form when there is a
transfer of electrons. This occurs between a metal and a nonmetal.
References:
Johnsinit. (2019, May 9). What is Heat Treatment? Hardening, Tempering, Annealing,
Normalizing, Carburization, Surface Hardening. Retrieved from
https://www.brighthubengineering.com/manufacturing-technology/30476-what-is-heat-
treatment/
Viva. (2019, September 12). Covalent Vs. Metallic Vs. Ionic Bond: General Differences And
Examples. Retrieved from https://vivadifferences.com/covalent-vs-metallic-vs-ionic-bond-
differences-and-examples/