Advance physical metallurgy

Physical metallurgy of ferrous metal and

alloy

Prepared by : Ravi Dave

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Steel and its Classification

➢ Definition of Steel: “ Steel is the alloy of Iron and Carbon

containing maximum 2.11% carbon ”

➢ Classification:

• Steel is classified on the basis of:

1. Amount of Carbon

2. Amount of Alloying Elements

3. Amount of Deoxidizers

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Steel and its Classification

4. Grain Coarsening Characteristics

5. Method of Manufacture

6. Depth of Hardening

7. Form and use

1. On the basis of amount of carbon:

A. Low carbon steels – containing upto 0.25% carbon

B. Medium carbon steels – containing 0.25% to 0.65% carbon

C. High carbon steels – containing 0.65% to 1.5% carbon

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Steel and its Classification

2. On the basis of alloying elements:

A. Low alloy steels – containing < 10% alloying elements

B. High alloy steels – containing > 10% alloying elements

3. On the basis of deoxidation:

A. Rimmed steels – containing large amount of oxygen and other gases

B. Killed steels –dissolved oxygen from the steel is completely removed

by addition of strong deoxidizing agents like Al, Si or Mn

C. Semi Killed steels – only part of dissolved oxygen is removed from

the steel
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Steel and its Classification

4. On the basis of grain coarsening characteristic:

A. Coarse grained steels

B. Fine grained steels

5. On the basis of method of manufacturing:

A. Basic open hearth

B. Electric furnace

C. Basic oxygen process

D. Acid open hearth

E. Acid bessemer
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Steel and its Classification

6. On the basis of depth of hardening:

A. Non hardenable steels

B. Shallow hardening steels

C. Deep hardening steels

7. On the basis of form and use:

A. Boiler steels

B. Case hardening steels

C. Corrosion and heat resistant steels

D. Deep drawing steels

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Steel and its Classification

E. Electrical steels

F. Free cutting steels

G. Machinery steels

H. Structural steels

I. Tool steels

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Plain Carbon Steel
• Plain carbon steels are alloy of iron and carbon in which carbon varies
from 0 to 2% by weight.

• The upper limit of carbon in plain carbon steel corresponds to the

maximum solubility of carbon in austenite.

• Commercial steels, in addition to carbon, contain elements such as

manganese, silicon, sulphur and phosphorus. These elements are
always present in all steel.

• Sulphur and phosphorous are highly detrimental and treated as

undesirable elements. Manganese and silicon not added intentionally
though they are present have beneficial effect.
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Plain Carbon Steel

• On the basis of carbon content, plain carbon steel divided in to three

category:

• 1. Low Carbon Steels: Low carbon steels contain carbon up to 0.25%.

They are soft, ductile, malleable, tough, machinable, weldable and
non-hardenable by heat treatment.

• They are good for cold working purpose such as rolling in to thin sheet,
thinning or press work.

• They are good for fabrication work by welding, pressing or machining.

• They are used for wires, rivets, screws, welding rods, ship plates, boiler
plates etc.
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Low Carbon Steel
• Mild steel is very known from this group and its requirements as per
Indian Standard Specification are as:

• Chemical composition:

– Carbon < 0.23%

– Sulphur and Phosphorous < 0.055%

• Mechanical properties:

– Yield Strength = 26 kg/mm2 (minimum)

– U.T.S = 42 – 56 kg/mm2 (minimum)

– Elongation = 23% (minimum)

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Low Carbon Steel
• Mild steel is used in as rolled and air cooled condition. Its
microstructure consist of 25% Pearlite with remaining ferrite.

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Medium Carbon Steel
• 2. Medium carbon steels: Medium carbon steel contain carbon
between 0.25 to 0.65%. These steel have intermediate properties
between low carbon and high carbon steel.

• They are medium hard, not so ductile and malleable, medium tough,
slightly difficult to machine, weld and harden.

• The response of these steels to heat treatment is much better than that
of low carbon steel.

• They required higher cooling rate for hardening and hardness

produced after hardening is not so high.

• The depth of hardening is also less and hence they are shallow
hardening type. 12
Medium Carbon Steel
• They are difficult to cold work and hence hot worked.

• They are also called Machinery steels.

• They are used for bolts, axles, large forging dies, springs, wires,
hammers, railway rails and railway tires.

• Microstructure of medium carbon steel consist of approximately 50 to

70% pearlite.

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High Carbon Steel
• 3. High carbon Steels: The carbon content of high carbon steels generally
varies from 0.65 to 1.5%.

• Higher the carbon, the more is the strength with attendant brittleness.

• They are hard, wear resistance, brittle, difficult to machine, difficult to

weld and can be harden by heat treatment.

• The hardness produced after hardening is high. Depth of hardening is also

high. Hardenability is more as compare to medium carbon steel.

• These steels can not be cold worked and hence are hot worked.

• They are also called tool steels. They are used for forging dies, punches,
hammers, spring, clips, clutch disc, car bumpers, knife, razor blade etc
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High Carbon Steel
• Microstructure of hyper eutectoid steel consist of proeutectoid cementite
and pearlite.

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High Carbon Steel
• Microstructure of hyper eutectoid steel consist of proeutectoid cementite
and pearlite.

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Cast Irons
➢ Definition of Cast Irons: Cast irons are basically alloys of iron and carbon
in which carbon varies between 2 to 6.67%.

• Commercial cast irons contain carbon in the range of 2.3 to 3.75% with
other elements such as silicon, sulphur, phosphorus and manganese in
substantial amount.

• Because of their poor ductility and malleability, they can not be rolled,
forged, drawn or pressed in to any desired shape; but they are formed by
melting and casting with or without machining to the required final
shape and size, and hence they are called “cast Iron”.

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Characteristics of Cast Irons
➢ Characteristics of cast irons as compare to steels:

1. They are cheapest among the commercial alloys.

2. They are easier to melt because of their lower melting temperature as

compared to steels.

3. They have excellent castability due to high fluidity of melt and low
shrinkage during solidification.

4. Their corrosion resistance is fairly good.

5. Various types of cast irons having typical properties:

• White cast iron has high hardness and high resistance to wear an abrasion.

• Grey cast iron has excellent machinability and very good damping capacity.
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Characteristics of Cast Irons
➢ Characteristics of cast irons as compare to steels:

• Grey cast iron also has good bearing properties and high compressive
strength.

• Malleable and nodular cast iron have plasticity and strength sufficient to
achieve a useful degree of toughness and impact resistance.

6. By proper alloying, good foundry control and suitable heat treatment, the
properties of any types of cast iron can be easily adjusted.

7. In general they are brittle and their properties are inferior to steel.

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Classification of Cast Irons
➢ Classification of cast irons:

1. On the basis of furnace used in their manufacture:

A. Cupola cast irons.

B. Air furnace cast irons.

C. Electric furnace cast irons.

D. Duplex cast irons.

2. On the basis of composition and purity:

A. Low carbon, low silicon cast irons

B. High carbon, low sulphur cast irons

C. Nickel alloy cast iron.

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Classification of Cast Irons
3. On the basis of microstructure and appearance of fracture:

A. White cast irons.

B. Malleable cast irons.

C. Grey cast irons.

D. Nodular cast irons.

E. Mottled cast irons.

F. Chilled cast irons.

G. Alloy cast irons.

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Effects of Alloying Elements on Microstructure & Properties of C.I

1. Amount of Carbon:

• Carbon is graphitizer, with increasing carbon, the tendency of

graphitization i.e. formation of graphite by decomposition cementite

(Fe3C = 3Fe + C) become more and this results in formation of grey cast
iron.

• With less amount of carbon, the cast iron solidify with out graphitization
giving all carbon in combined form as cementite and this cast iron is known
as white cast iron.

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Effects of Alloying Elements on Microstructure & Properties of C.I

2. Amount of Silicon:

• Silicon is a strong graphitizer and promote the graphitization i.e.

decomposition of cementite to iron and graphite hence its amount is
controlled to control the graphitization.

• The amount of silicon varies from 0.5 to 3.0% in various commercial cast
iron.

• With lower amount of silicon cast iron solidifies as white C.I and with
higher amount o silicon cast iron solidifies as grey C.I.

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Effects of Alloying Elements on Microstructure & Properties of C.I

3. Amount of Phosphorous:

• Phosphorous is also strong graphitizer like silicon and its content varies
from 0.1 to 0.3%.

• Most of the phosphorous combine with iron and form iron phosphide
(Fe3P) . This iron phosphide is brittle and hence it reduce the toughness
and increase the brittleness of the cast iron.

• Therefore amount of phosphorous should be carefully controlled to obtain

optimum mechanical properties.

• However phosphorous increase the fluidity of the cast iron and make easy
to cast into thin and complex section.
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Effects of Alloying Elements on Microstructure & Properties of C.I

4. Amount of Sulphur:

• Sulphur combine with iron and form iron sulphide (FeS) which is hard and
brittle compound.

• Due this sulphur increase the brittleness of the cast iron.

• Addition of manganese (Mn) reduce the detrimental effect of sulphur, this

is because Mn has higher affinity for sulphur than for iron hence Mn
combine with sulphur and for MnS instead of FeS.

• Sulphur also promote the formation of carbide and neutralize the

graphitization.

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Effects of Alloying Elements on Microstructure & Properties of C.I

5. Amount of Manganese:

• Most important effect of manganese is to reduce the brittleness which

occur due to formation of iron sulphide.

• Addition of manganese (Mn) reduce the detrimental effect of sulphur, this

is because Mn has higher affinity for sulphur than for iron hence Mn
combine with sulphur and for MnS instead of FeS.

• Usual amount of Mn in cast iron varies between 05 to 1.0%.

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White Cast Iron
• In white cast iron all the carbon is present in the form of combined
carbon i.e. cementite and there is a no free carbon i.e. graphite.

• Fractured surface of white cast iron appear white hence the name is
“White Cast Iron”.

• Since there is a no graphitization during solidification of white cast iron, its

resulting microstructure indicated by Fe – Fe3C diagram.

• The graphitization is prevented by controlling chemical composition and

cooling rate.

• Lower silicon content, lower carbon content and rapid cooling rate
prevent the decomposition of cementite to graphite.
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White Cast Iron
• Microstructure of hypoeutectic cast iron with 3.0% carbon at room
temperature as per iron – carbon diagram consist of Pearlite +
Transformed Ladeburite (Mixture of Pearlite + Cementite)

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White Cast Iron
• Microstructure of eutectic cast iron with 4.3% carbon at room
temperature as per iron – carbon diagram consist of 100% Transformed
Ladeburite (Mixture of Pearlite + Cementite)

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White Cast Iron
• Microstructure of hypereutectic cast iron at room temperature as per iron
– carbon diagram consist of dendrites of primary cementite in the matrix
of Transformed Ladeburite (Mixture of Pearlite + Cementite)

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White Cast Iron
• Due to the presence of carbon in combined form i.e. cementite, whte cast
iron contain large amount of cementite. Therefore they are hard and
brittle .

• The hardness of the cast iron depends on its carbon content which is
increased with increase in carbon content. This make cast iron brittle and
undesirable for engineering application.

• Therefore most of the white cast irons are hypoeutectic.

• Composition: C – 2.3 to 3.0%, Si – 0.5 to 1.3%, S – 0.06 to 0.1%

P – 0.1 to 0.2%, Mn – 0.5 to 1.0%

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White Cast Iron
• These cast irons are hard, strong in compression, resistance to abrasive
wear.

• Typical application of white cast iron include wearing plates, road roller
surface, grinding ball, die, extrusion nozzle.

• They are also used for production of malleable cast iron.

• They are not used for structural parts because of their higher brittleness.

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Malleable Cast Iron

• Malleable cast iron produced from white cast iron by malleablizing heat
treatment.

• This heat treatment consist of heating the white cast iron slowly to avoid
cracking to a temperature between eutectoid and eutectic temperature
usually at around 800 to 950℃ holding at this temperature for a long
time about 24 hour and then followed by cooling to a room temperature.

• Heat treatment cycle of malleablization is shown in figure.

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Malleable Cast Iron

• Malleablizing heat treatment cycle

900 ℃ 1 2

Slow
Temperature ℃

Moderate Cooling
Cooling rate
rate

Time 3 3’

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Malleable Cast Iron

• Malleablizing heat treatment: Due to heating to a 900 ℃ temperature at

point 1, the structure of cast iron consist of austenite and cementite,
cementite is metastable phase which is decompose to austenite and
graphite with a long holding time. This process is known as graphitization.

• The above graphitization process give rise to a rough, irregular nodules or

spheroids of temper carbon graphite in a matrix of austenite.

• Cooling to a room temperature with moderate cooling rate results in

transformation of austenite to pearlite at a eutectoid temperature.
Therefore microstructure at point 3 shows nodules of temper carbon
graphite in the matrix of pearlite.
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Malleable Cast Iron

• However if the cooling rate is slow, cementite from the pearlite also
decompose giving ferrite and graphite and the structure at room
temperature at point 3’ may show nodules of temper carbon graphite in
the matrix of ferrite.

• Due the presence of nodular carbon graphite in microstructure, these cast

iron show some ductility, toughness and bendable as compare to grey cast
iron which are brittle hence they are called as malleable cast iron

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Malleable Cast Iron
• Types of malleable cast iron depending on microstructure and appearance
of fracture

1. Ferritic malleable: The matrix is ferrite due to slower cooling from

malleablizing temperature to room temperature. Microstructure consist of
well distributed nodules of temper carbon graphite in ferrite matrix. Here
the ferrite and graphite both are soft therefore this cast iron is soft.

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Malleable Cast Iron

2. Pearlitic malleable: if the cooling rate from malleablizing temperature to

room temperature is moderate, all the proeutectoid cementite gets
graphitized. The resulting microstructure consist of nodules of temper
carbon graphite in the matrix of pearlite. In this condition, cast iron is
harder, stronger and slightly brittle.

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Malleable Cast Iron

3. Pearlitic – Ferritic malleable cast iron: This is produced due to intermediate

cooling rate between to produce ferritic malleable and pearlitic
malleable cast irons. The resultant microstructure consist of nodules of
temper carbon graphite surrounded by envelope of ferrite in the matrix
of coarse pearlite. The properties are intermediate between ferritic and
pearlitic malleable cast iron.

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Malleable Cast Iron

4. Black heart malleable: This cast iron shows dark grey appearance in the
center region or core. This due to decarburization at the surface. This
decarburized ferritic layer has no temper carbon hence appear bright
whereas the presence of graphite make the core to appear dark. Because
of its unusual fracture, cast iron is identify as black heart malleable.

5. White heart malleable cast iron: This cast iron shows white fracture from
the center to surface. This cast iron is completely free from temper carbon
graphite with ferritic skin. If graphite from malleable cast iron completely
removed by decarburization it become white heart malleable cast iron.

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Grey Cast Iron

• Grey cast iron containing carbon in the free form i.e. graphite flakes.
Fracture surface of the grey cast iron appear grey.

• Graphite in these cast irons is formed during freezing. Not like malleable
cast iron in which graphite form during heat treatment.

• In grey cast iron graphite flakes disturb the continuity of the matrix and
hence these cast irons are brittle and relatively weak in tension as
compared to malleable cast iron.

• Grey cast irons are cheapest in all the ferrous alloy and easier to cast due
to high castability resulting from lower melting temperature, high fluidity
and lower shrinkage.
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Grey Cast Iron

• Grey cast irons having following useful properties:

1. Excellent Machinability

2. Good compressive strength

3. Good bearing properties

4. Fairly good corrosion resistance

• Grey cast iron having following two drawback (Defect):

1. Growth: Growth is a permanent expansion which occurs when heated

to about 400℃ temperature. Growth results in loss of strength with
increased brittleness.

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Grey Cast Iron

2. Fire crack or heat checks: This occur in the form of crack due to
repeated heating and cooling to a temperature about 550℃. And also
due to higher thermal gradient between and surface and interior.

• These drawbacks may be reduce by addition of alloying elements such as

Mo, Cr, Ni etc.

• In grey cast iron it is necessary to obtain pearlitic matrix. Grey cast iron
having following composition:

C – 3.2 to 3.7% Si – 2.0 to 3.5% S – 0.06 to 1.0%

P – 0.1 to 0.2% Mn – 0.5 to 1.0%

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Grey Cast Iron

• Microstructure of grey cast iron:

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Grey Cast Iron

• Typical application of Grey Cast Iron involves Machine bases, Engine

frames, Drainage Pipe, Elevator, Pump housing, Piston of I.C Engines.

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Spheroidal Graphite Iron (SGI)

• Spheroidal graphite iron is also known as Nodular cast iron or Ductile iron.

• These cast iron contain graphite in the form of nodules or spheroids. Due
to this disturbance to the steel matrix is less as compare to the grey cast
iron. This increase the ductility, toughness and tensile strength.

• SGI produced from grey cast iron by addition of small quantity of certain
elements known as nodulizing elements such as magnesium, cerium,
calcium, barium, lithium or zirconium.

• The most common addition to grey cast iron for the production of the
nodular cast iron is magnesium.

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Spheroidal Graphite Iron (SGI)

• Addition of Magnesium up to 0.06 to 0.08% is done to the grey cast iron

melt usually in the ladle just prior to pouring in to the mould. Any delay in
pouring result in nodular shape of graphite.

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Thank you

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