Suriana Binti Ahmad(AM070349) 1 SME 3942:Module B/ Carbon Steel 1. TITLE: Microstructure, Processing, and Properties of Carbon Steel 2.

OBJECTIVE: Main objective of this module is to understand the three relations between structure, heat treatment, and properties of medium carbon steel and understand the relationship of microstructure and properties after material undergoes heat treatment process. 3. INTRODUCTION: Steel are the most important alloys utilized as structural material and this shows technological advances in steel. There are three types of carbon steel which is plain carbon steel or mild carbon steel (up to 0.25% carbons content), medium carbon steel (0.3% to 0.59% carbon content) and high carbon steel (0.6% to 0.99% carbon content). In this module, we used medium carbon steel which contained 0.3% of carbon. Medium carbon steel has great wear resistance and is used for forged automotive components and large parts. Its composition is approximately 0.30%-0.59% carbon content.

Modern demands of good quality products have made heat treatment an important process for most engineering applications. Heat treatment is the process used to change the

physical and chemical properties of the material. This process will change the microstructure of material and eventually will improve the properties of that material. It does this by manipulating the properties of metals by controlling the rate of diffusion and also the rate of cooling within the microstructure. Heat treatments used in this module are
normalizing, quenching, annealing, and tempering. The different heat treatment will give different result for material properties such as the ductility, brittleness and hardness. Annealing process is the process where the material will be heated up to 870 oC (austenite region) and cooling in furnace. This process will restore the ductility to metal that been severely strain-hardening. Same as annealing process, normalizing process will be heated up to 870oC but cooling at room temperature. For quenching process, the specimen will heating same temperature as two processes before but will rapidly cooling by soaking it

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in certain time and quench in liquid medium (such as water). This treatment usually applied to tools and some important machine parts intended for especially heavy duty services. The metal undergoes this process will brittle and hardens metal. Tempering process will undergo same process as quenching process and after that it will reheat to a temperature below the transformation range (200oC to 600oC) followed by cooling at desired rate. It restores the ductility and reduces brittleness due to quenching.

The Charpy impact test, also known as the Charpy v-notch test, is a standardized high strain-rate test which determines the amount of energy absorbed by a material during fracture. This absorbed energy is a measure of a given material's toughness and acts as a tool to study temperature-dependent brittle-ductile transition. This test also can be use to know the ductility of metal by looking at the surface fracture obtain from the test. The Vickers hardness test is the method to measure the hardness of materials. The Vickers test is often easier to use than other hardness tests since the required calculations are independent of the size of the indenter, and the indenter can be used for all materials irrespective of hardness. The basic principle, as with all common measures of hardness, is to observe the questioned material's ability to resist plastic deformation from a standard source. 4. SPECIMEN: Medium Carbon Steel (0.3% of Carbon) 5. EQUIPMENTS: Heat Treatment Furnace Quenching Media (water) Equipment for Sample Preparation (selection, grinding, polishing and etching process) Vickers Hardness Testing Machine. Charpy Impact Test Machine Metallurgy Microscope and Scanning Electron Micrograph(SEM)

Suriana Binti Ahmad(AM070349) 3 SME 3942:Module B/ Carbon Steel 6. PROCEDURE:

Figure 1: Specimen/V-notch i. Five samples were gets by cut them as in Figure 1 using abrasive cutting machine and grinding machine. ii. All specimens were numbered and go through heat treatment process as below; Specimen 1 2 3 4 5 Heat Treatment Annealing Normalizing Quenching Tempering No Treatment Table 1: Specimen with it heat treatment

iii.

Applied Impact Charpy Test to all five specimens. Readings for impact test were recorded. Every specimen was fracture into two parts after the test.

iv.

One part of every specimen was examined by naked eyes and then the microstructure of the surface fracture was getting by using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).

v.

The other parts of every specimen then were undergoing grinding, polishing, and etching process (sample preparation). Then the microstructures for every specimens surface were getting by using Optical Microscope. Using the same parts, all specimens hardness was tested by using Vickers Hardness Machine. (3 point was randomly selected).

vi.

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Suriana Binti Ahmad(AM070349) 7 SME 3942:Module B/ Carbon Steel 7. DISCUSSIONS a) Explain the formation of microstructure by using both Fe-Fe3C Phase Diagram (TTT diagram) and Continuous Cooling Transformation Diagram (CCT Diagram).

A B D C

Figure 3: Iron-Iron Carbide Phase Diagram Carbon steel in this experiment is 0.3% carbon content which is below than eutectoid known as hypoeutectic alloy. When specimen 1 and 2 are heated to 870oC (at point A), the microstructure consist entirely of grains of austenite () phase. Both specimens were slowly cooling to point B, austenite and ferrite phases were coexist. Small ferrite particles are formed within the grain boundaries. The compositions of ferrite increased as time increased. Ferrite particles have growth, until it formed along grain boundaries at point C which is just above eutectoid line. In cooling to point D, which is just above eutectoid, all phases at point C transformed to pearlite (ferrite+Fe3C) while ferrite in point C remain same. Ferrite formed in pearlite known as eutectoid ferrite, while the other ferrite called as proeutectoid ferrite. Both specimen 1 and 2 undergo the same cooling process, but in the different rate. Cooling rate for specimen 1 is faster than specimen 2. As a result of this intermediate cooling rate, the pearlite formed is finer than specimen 2 which make specimen 1 more harden.

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Figure 3: Continuous Cooling Transformation (CCT) Diagram

Figure 3 show the Continuous Cooling Transformation diagram (CCT). The red line is the CCT line. Generally, most hest treatment for steel involve continuous cooling of a specimen to room temperature. This cooling required time for a reaction to begin and end delayed. The transformation starts after a time period, corresponding to the intersection of the cooling curve with the beginning reaction curve and concludes upon crossing the completion transformation curve. For carbon steel continuous cooling, there exixt a critical quenching rate, which represent the minimum rate of quenching that will produce a totally martensite structure. This critical cooling, as we can see from the figure, will miss the nose which the pearlite transformation begins. From this figure, we can see that martensite will fully exist for quenching rate greater than the critical. Rate of cooling influent the transformation behavior and final microstructure.

Suriana Binti Ahmad(AM070349) 9 SME 3942:Module B/ Carbon Steel b) Describe the different of microstructure for all specimens.

Pearlite

Ferrite

Figure 4(a): Specimen 5-No Treatment

Figure 4(c): Specimen 2-Normalizing

Figure 4(b): Specimen 1Annealing

Ferrite

Pearlite

When the same carbon content steels undergo different heat treatment, the result for their microstructure is different. The entire figures are with 50 magnified. Figure 4 (a) show microstructure for specimen 5 which the actual microstructure of medium carbon steel with 0.3% of carbon content. Figure 4 (b) and (c) show microstructure for specimen 1 and 2 which undergo annealing and normalizing process respectively. Both processes were heated at the same temperature, but the way they cooled was different. Specimen 1 cooled in furnace while specimen 2 cooled in room temperature. This give effect to the

Suriana Binti Ahmad(AM070349) 10 SME 3942:Module B/ Carbon Steel microstructure obtained. It can be seen that pearlite and ferrite are formed in both specimens 1 and 2. By the way, we can see the different between two of them based on the amount of pearlite. Pearlite at specimen 2 is more than specimen 1. This happened due to shifting of eutectoid composition to a lower value. Other than that, we can see that the pearlite in specimen 2 is finer and have lower interlamellar spacing compared to specimen 1.

Figure 4(d): Specimen 3-Quenching

Figure 4(e): Specimen 4-Tempering

From figure 4 (d) and (e), show the microstructure for specimen 3 and 4 where undergo quenching and tempering respectively. Both specimens were heated and cooled at the same temperature. But for specimen 4, it has further process which is tempered at 600oC for 2 hours. As we can see, both formed martensite but there is a different between their microstructure. Specimen 3 formed needle shaped grain which show that specimen 3 are hard and very brittle based on the properties of martensite. When specimen is tempered, the brittleness will reduce as we can see specimen 4, there have small cimentite (Fe3C). It shows that the weakness of martensite has been removed.

Suriana Binti Ahmad(AM070349) 11 SME 3942:Module B/ Carbon Steel c) Briefly explain the purpose of heat treatments : annealing, normalizing, quenching and tempering. i. Annealing To remove stresses which is caused by previous treatment, to soften the steel, to improve machinability, to improve cold working properties, to obtain a desired structure. ii. Normalizing To improve machinability, to improve dimensional stability, to modify and/or refine the grain structure, to produce a homogeneous microstructure, to reduce banding, to improve ductility, and to provide a more consistent response when hardening or case hardening iii. Quenching Increase hardness and make material strong. iv. Tempering To reduce the brittleness where ductility will improve, to improve toughness, to reduces cracking, to improves machinability, to increases impact resistance, and to improves malleability

Suriana Binti Ahmad(AM070349) 12 SME 3942:Module B/ Carbon Steel d) Show in report, standard optic micrograph for examined specimen.

Figure 5(a): Annealing

Figure 5(b): Normalizing

Figure 5(c): Quenching

Figure 5(d): Tempering

Suriana Binti Ahmad(AM070349) 13 SME 3942:Module B/ Carbon Steel e) Compare the surface fracture and type of fracture for all specimen.

Figure 6(a): Specimen 5-No Treatment

Figure 6(c): Specimen 2- Normalizing

Figure 6(b): Specimen 1Annealing Figure 6(a) show the surface fracture for specimen 5 which is no treatment applied. When carbon steel undergoes annealing process, the surface fracture is in figure 6 (b). As we can see, the fractographic shows that the specimen is not easy to fracture and we can say that the specimen is ductile. For figure 6 (c), specimen 2 undergo normalizing process. The type of this surface fracture is ductile. Its type is same as specimen 1, but there is a different which is the shape. This shows that, specimen 2 is more ductile and tough compare to specimen 1. Both specimens 1 and 2, as we can see have a surface fracture are faceted texture. This is the results of criteria of plastic deformation.

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Figure 6(d): Specimen 3-Quenching

Figure 6(e): Specimen 4-Tempering

Figure 6 (d) show the fractographic for specimen 3 which undergoes quenching process. We can obviously seen that the fractographic show that specimen 3 have smooth surface fracture texture which is mean it fracture easily. Specimen 3 has no plastic deformation and fracture rapidly when force is applied. This show that specimen 3 is brittle and not tough. While specimen 4, it undergoes tempering process. Initially, both specimen undergoing same step, but after cooling, specimen 3 have stop the step while specimen 4 has further step which is reheated at 600oC and then cooled. This step have remove the brittleness properties that specimen 3 have. As we can see that fractographic for specimen 4 have ductility properties. Specimen 4 is not easy to fracture. This specimen is tough and ductile. As a conclusion, we can say that specimen 1 and 2 have transgranular crack propagation while specimen 3 is intergranular crack propagation.

Suriana Binti Ahmad(AM070349) 15 SME 3942:Module B/ Carbon Steel f) Discuss the properties (hardenability and toughness) based on the microstucture. Treatment Microstructure Hardness Reading (HV) 1 2 3 4 5 Annealing Normalizing Quenching Tempered No treatment Coarse Pearlite Fine Pearlite Coarse Martensite Fine Martensite 204.7 229.1 815.3 321.7 266.2 Impact Reading (J) 32.2 40.2 0.4 43.2 27.4

Specimen

Table 2: Specimen, treatment, hardness, impact; specimen act as control

Table 2 show a summary for treatment applied to specimen and its result. It can be obviously seen that specimen 3 which undergo quenching process has formed coarse martensite microstructure. This specimen has highest hardness reading but lower impact reading. We can say that this specimen is harden and brittle. Specimen 4 undergo tempering process have fine martensite. This specimen has better properties than specimen 3 because as we can see from the table, it has the highest impact reading and we can see it is harden specimen. The energy used to fracture this material is highest, so it shows that this specimen is tough. Specimen 1 which undergo annealing process are softens specimen among all specimens. This is because it formed coarse pearlite. Mechanically, pearlite has properties intermediate between the soft, ductile ferrite and the hard, brittle, simentite. That is why, specimen 1 has the lower hardness reading but intermediate in impact reading. Specimens 2 harden than specimen 1 because the microstructure formed fine pearlite. It also quite tough, because has higher impact reading. Specimen 5 just acts as control specimen. It doesnt undergo any treatment.

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8. CONCLUSION To sum up this report, every heat treatment gives an effect to carbon steel. The effects based on hardenability, ductility, toughen and so on. Increasing rate of cooling will give more hardness material. Every heat treatment have own advantages and disadvantages according to applications. From microstructure we get, we can predict the mechanical properties of carbon steel according to what formed in the carbon steel. As example, martensite makes the material more hardness. As a conclusion, the objective of this module is achieved.

9. REFERENCES I. II. Lab sheets. Calister W.D., Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction, Seventh Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007. III. PM Dr Esah Hamzah, Dr. Jasmi, Norhayati Ahmad & Dr. Dody Prayitno, Sains Bahan, Edisi ke Tiga, FKM UTM, 2004 IV. V. VI. www.sciencedirect.com
www.wikipedia.com

http://www.industrialheating.com/Articles/Column/BNP_GUID_9-52006_A_10000000000000300329

VII.

http://www.gowelding.com/met/carbon.htm