Steels heat treatments

G. Kiauss, Steels Heat Treatment and Processing Principles, ASM International, Materials Park, Ohio, 1990. 

Totten, G.E., and M. A. Howes Steel Heat Treatment Handbook, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, NY, 1997. 

High Carbon Special Alloy Steels-Heat treatment of the completed part allows use of thinner material. Lighter than 1, but also more expensive to produce. 

Steel Production FI y d rometallu rg y The Metallurgy of Iron Production of Steel Heat Treatment of Steel... 

T. Bell and Y. Sun, Low temperature plasma nitriding and carburizing of austenitic stainless steels. Heat Treatment of Metals 29 (3) (2002) 57-64 T. Bell, Bodycote-AGA Seminar, Lidingo, 2005. 

Figure 11.11 The iron-iron carbide phase diagram in the vidnity of the entectoid, indicating heat-treating tem-peratnre ranges for plain carbon steels. (Adapted from G. Krauss, Steels Heat Treatment and Processing Principles, ASM International, 1990, page 108.)...

S. L. Semiatin and D. E. Stutz, Induction Heat Treatment of Steel, American Society for Metals, Metals Park, Ohio, 1986. 

Precipitation Hardening. With the exception of ferritic steels, which can be hardened either by the martensitic transformation or by eutectoid decomposition, most heat-treatable alloys are of the precipitation-hardening type. During heat treatment of these alloys, a controlled dispersion of submicroscopic particles is formed in the microstmeture. The final properties depend on the manner in which particles are dispersed, and on particle size and stabiUty. Because precipitation-hardening alloys can retain strength at temperatures above those at which martensitic steels become unstable, these alloys become an important, in fact pre-eminent, class of high temperature materials. 

Steels iu the AISI 400 series contain a minimum of 11.5% chromium and usually not more than 2.5% of any other aHoyiag element these steels are either hardenable (martensitic) or nonhardenable, depending principally on chromium content. Whereas these steels resist oxidation up to temperatures as high as 1150°C, they are not particularly strong above 700°C. Steels iu the AISI 300 series contain a minimum of 16% chromium and 6% nickel the relative amounts of these elements are balanced to give an austenitic stmcture. These steels caimot be strengthened by heat treatment, but can be strain-hardened by cold work. 

Selective Carburi ng. In most components, it is desirable to carburize only parts of the surface. To prevent other regions from carburizing, they must be protected. For holes, simple plugs of copper may be used. In some cases, copper plating can be appHed, but diffusion into the steel must be considered, and the copper may have to be machined off later. Coatings (qv), which can be appHed as a paste and then removed after heat treatment, are also available and include copper plating, ceramic coatings, and copper and tin pastes. 

K. E. Thelning, Steel and Its Heat Treatment, Butterworths, Boston, Mass., 1975. 

Heat Treatment of Steel. Steels are alloys having up to about 2% carbon in iron plus other alloying elements. The vast application of steels is mainly owing to their ability to be heat treated to produce a wide spectmm of properties. This occurs because of a crystallographic or aHotropic transformation which takes place upon quenching. This transformation and its role in heat treatment can be explained by the crystal stmcture of iron and by the appropriate phase diagram for steels (see Steel). 

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