CHAPTER 2 BASIC HEAT TREATMENT

As Steelworkers, we are interested in the heat treatment of metals, because we have to know what effects the heat produced by welding or cutting has on metal. We also need to know the methods used to restore metal to its original condition. The process of heat treating is the method by which metals are heated and cooled in a series of specific operations that never allow the metal to reach the molten state. The purpose of heat treating is to make a metal more useful by changing or restoring its mechanical properties. Through heat treating, we can make a metal harder, stronger, and more resistant to impact. Also, heat treating can make a metal softer and more ductile. The one disadvantage is that no heat-treating procedure can produce all of these characteristics in one operation. Some properties are improved at the expense of others; for example, hardening a metal may make it brittle.

HEAT-TREATING THEORY

The various types of heat-treating processes are similar because they all involve the heating and cooling of metals; they differ in the heating temperatures and the cooling rates used and the final results. The usual methods of heat-treating ferrous metals (metals with iron) are annealing, normalizing, hardening, and tempering. Most nonferrous metals can be annealed, but never tempered, normalized, or case-hardened.

Successful heat treatment requires close control over all factors affecting the heating and cooling of a metal. This control is possible only when the proper equipment is available. The furnace must be of the proper size and type and controlled, so the temperatures are kept within the prescribed limits for each operation. Even the furnace atmosphere affects the condition of the metal being heat-treated.

The furnace atmosphere consists of the gases that circulate throughout the heating chamber and surround the metal, as it is being heated. In an electric furnace, the atmosphere is either air or a controlled mixture of gases. In a fuel-fired furnace, the atmosphere is the mixture of gases that comes from the combination of the air and the gases released by the fuel during combustion. These gases contain various proportions of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor, and other various hydrocarbons. Fuel-fired furnaces can provide three distinct atmospheres when you vary the proportions of air and fuel. They are called oxidizing, reducing, and neutral.

STAGES OF HEAT TREATMENT

Heat treating is accomplished in three major stages:

Stage l - Heating the metal slowly to ensure a uniform temperature

Stage 2 - Soaking (holding) the metal at a given temperature for a given time and cooling the metal to room temperature

Stage 3 - Cooling the metal to room temperature

HEATING STAGE

The primary objective in the heating stage is to maintain uniform temperatures. If uneven heating occurs, one section of a part can expand faster than another and result in distortion or cracking. Uniform temperatures are attained by slow heating.

The heating rate of a part depends on several factors. One important factor is the heat conductivity of the metal. A metal with a high-heat conductivity heats at a faster rate than one with a low conductivity. Also, the condition of the metal determines the rate at which it may be heated. The heating rate for hardened tools and parts should be slower than unstressed or untreated metals. Finally, size and cross section figure into the heating rate. Parts with a large cross section require slower heating rates to allow the interior temperature to remain close to the surface temperature that prevents warping or cracking. Parts with uneven cross sections experience uneven heating; however, such parts are less apt to be cracked or excessively warped when the heating rate is kept slow.

SOAKING STAGE

After the metal is heated to the proper temperature, it is held at that temperature until the desired internal structural changes take place. This process is called SOAKING. The length of time held at the proper