Study Theme 5

Steels

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 Steels
• Carbon steels: Low Carbon, Medium carbon and high carbon
• Alloy steels
• Stainless steels
• Tool steels

• Alloy classification is defined as the systematic organisation of steels (or

other alloys) in groups classifications based on
✓ equivalent properties and/or
✓ chemical compositions.
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 Steels Classification
Purpose of classification
• purchasing steels
• determining their acceptability according to certain standards.

Steel can be classified according to type, class or grade.

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 Steel classification by Types
Classification by type is based on the method used to produce the steel.

Most frequent method used in RSA:

✓ Basic oxygen furnace: Used for producing structural steels and low alloy
steels.
➢Typical route: Blast furnace or direct reduction process → basic oxygen
furnace (BOF)
✓ Electric arc furnace (EAF): Mainly used for special alloy steels.
➢Typical route: Scrap metal/pig iron → electric arc furnace → vacuum
degassing

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 Application and production classification
Steels can also be classified according to its typical application and/or method
of production. These include:
• Boiler steel: Low-carbon, low-alloy steel.
• Case hardening steel: Low-carbon steel that can be case hardened
(carburised or nitrided) to form a hard, wear resistant surface (case), while
maintaining a tough, ductile core.
• Corrosion and heat resistant steels: Usually highly alloyed steels, with high
concentrations of Cr, Ni and sometimes Mo for corrosion resistance and
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high temperature oxidation resistance.
Classifications
• Creep resistant steels. Steels containing up to 12.5% chromium, up to
1.2% molybdenum, and up to 0.35% vanadium for elevated temperature
creep resistance.
• Deep drawing steel: Low-carbon steel that has been annealed after cold
rolling for maximum ductility.
• Free machining steel: Usually a low-carbon steel with a high sulphur
content to improve machinability.

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Class
• Spring steel: Medium- to high-carbon steel containing Mn and Cr, or Mn
and Si, as major alloying elements. Good hardenability, high yield stress
and temper properties are important.
• Structural steel: Low-carbon steel with good welding properties.
• Tool steels. High-quality steels made to close compositional and physical
tolerances.
• Low-temperature steels. Steels with 3,5 to 9,0% nickel for low temperature
and cryogenic applications.
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 Grade
• The steel is graded according to its chemical composition (or mechanical
properties). For the convenience of the producer or design engineer, a
number of standard specifications exist for steel classification according
to grade.

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 Specifications
A specification is a written declaration of the required properties of a material,
both technical and commercial. In many instances, the chemical composition
of a steel is used as basis for specification. A specification contains:
• Production process, e.g. cold rolled, annealed
• Chemical composition and hardenability
• Quality, e.g. vacuum degassed or surface finish
• Mechanical properties e.g. tensile strength, yield strength, % elongation,
impact toughness at a certain temperature.
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• Others, e.g. special tolerances, finish, etc

 Standard Specifications
• Standard specifications stipulate the requirements of a product.
• Steel specification involves identification of a steel using a particular
number, letter, symbol or combination of these.
• The chemical composition of the steel is used in the majority of cases as
the basis for identification.
• No unified system for steel classification exists today.
• In South Africa the American (AISI, SAE or ASTM), German (DIN),
British (BS) and ISO specification systems are used.
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 American system (AISI or SAE)
• The system typically uses four digits for classification, and
differentiates between carbon steels and various alloy steels.
• The first digit refers to the steel type
• The second digit refers to a modification of the original type,
• The last two digits refer to the carbon content of the steel (in
hundredths of a %). - Table 1
Numerals and digits Steel type and nominal alloy content
Carbon steels
10XX Plain-carbon steel (1.00% max. Mn)
11XX Resulpurised steel for free-machining applications
12XX Resulpurised and rephosphorised steel
15XX Plain-carbon steel (1.00 to 1.65% Mn)

Manganese steels
13XX 1.75% Mn
Nickel steels
23XX 3.5% Ni
25XX 5.0% Ni
Nickel-Chromium steels
31XX 1.25% Ni; 0.65 and 0.8% Cr
32XX 1.75% Ni; 1.07% Cr
33XX 3.50% Ni; 1.50 and 1.57% Cr
34XX 3.00% Ni; 0.77% Cr
Molybdenum steels
40XX 0.20 and 0.25% Mo
44XX 0.40 and 0.52% Mo
Chromium-Molybdenum steels
41XX 0.50, 0.80 and 0.95 % Cr; 0.12, 0.20, 0.25, and 0.30% Mo
 The ASTM specification system
• Many ASTM specifications apply to specific products
• They are generally oriented towards performance of the fabricated end
product, with considerable latitude in chemical composition of the steel
used
• In many cases, the dimensions, tolerances, limits and restrictions in the
ASTM specifications are the same as the corresponding items of the
standard practices in the AISI system
 The ASTM specification system
• Many of the ASTM specifications have been adopted by ASME
(“American Society for Mechanical Engineers”), using a prefix “S” and
the ASTM designation for these specifications.
For example, ASME SA-213 and ASTM A213 are identical.
• Steel products can be identified by the number of the ASTM specification
to which they are made.
The British System
• EN2 to EN15: Mainly plain-carbon steels
• EN16 to EN340: Different low-alloy and alloy steels
• BS 970 series replaced the EN series
• Steel is identified using three numbers, followed by a letter and two more
numbers XXXZXX
• The first three numbers refer to the steel type
• Letter refers to a property or the condition that the steel is supplied in,
• The last two numbers refer to the average carbon content.
Tool Steels
Tool Steels
• Tool steels are generally used for producing tools for cutting,
forming or shaping a material into a part or component

• In service, most tools are subjected to extremely high, rapidly

applied loads

• Ability to withstand these loads repeatedly without breaking, and

without undergoing excessive wear or deformation

• In many applications, tool steels must provide this capability under

conditions that develop high temperatures in the tool
Tool Steels
• High quality steel
• Close compositional &
physical tolerances
• Similar in composition to
some C- and alloy steels
but rigorous quality
standards with respect to
chemical composition,
impurity levels and
microstructure
 Function of major alloying elements
Alloying elements Quenching Wear resistance Hardenability Toughness Tempering Heat resistance
Hardness resistance

C solute strongly positive moderately slightly positive negative no influence no influence

positive
undissolved moderately strongly positive slightly negative negative no influence no influence
(carbide) positive
Cr solute no influence no influence very positive no influence positive slightly positive
as alloy carbide slightly positive strongly positive slightly negative slightly negative no influence slightly positive

Si no influence no influence slightly positive no influence slightly positive no influence

Mn no influence no influence very positive no influence no influence no influence

Ni no influence no influence very positive very positive no influence no influence

Mo solute no influence no influence very positive no influence positive very positive

as alloy carbide slightly positive strongly positive slightly negative slightly negative no influence slightly positive

W solute no influence no influence slightly positive no influence positive very positive

as alloy carbide slightly positive strongly positive slightly negative slightly negative no influence slightly positive

V solute no influence no influence reasonably no influence very positive very positive

positive
as alloy carbide moderately strongly positive negative slightly negative no influence slightly positive
positive
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• No single tool material combines maximum wear resistance, toughness and
resistance to softening at elevated temperatures

• Consequently, selection of the proper tool material for a given application

often requires a trade-off to achieve the optimum combination of properties

• These properties are primarily a function of the chemical composition of

the alloy and the nature of the heat treatment it receives

• The hardenability of tool steels follows the same general rules governing
other alloy steels – the higher the alloy content, the greater the hardenability

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• With few exceptions, all tool steels must be heat treated to develop specific
combinations of wear resistance, resistance to deformation or breaking
under high loads, and resistance to softening at elevated temperatures

• Most tool steels are first formed or machined to produce the required shape
and then heat treated as required

• Improper finishing after heat treatment – principally grinding – can

damage tool steels through the development of surface residual stresses and
cracks
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Classification and composition of tool steels
Name Identifying Type Properties Uses
symbol
Water-hardening tool steels W Plain carbon Tough core; hard wear- Cutlery, trim dies, cold header dies, wood chisels,
resistant surface hand punches
Shock-resisting tool steels S Medium-carbon, low-alloy Excellent toughness; high Blank and trim dies, chisels, rivet sets, forming rolls,
strength slitting cutters, structural applications
Oil-hardening cold work O Oil-hardening Wear resistant to moderate Dies and punches where high temperatures are not
tool steels temperatures generated
Air-hardening, medium- A Medium-alloy, air- Minimum distortion and Dies, punches and forming rolls
alloy cold work tool steels hardening cracking on quenching
High-carbon, high- D High-carbon, high- High hardness; excellent Shear blades, long-run stamping dies and brick
chromium cold work tool chromium wear resistance applications
steels
Low-alloy, special-purpose L Low-alloy High toughness; good Arbors, cams, chucks, spindles, drift pins, cold-
tool steels strength forming rolls, slitting cutters
Mould steels P Low-carbon Low hardness; low Dies and moulds for low-temperature die casting and
resistance to work- for moulds for plastics
hardening
Hot work tool steels, H Chromium (H1-H19) Good toughness; good High-stressed components and high-temperature
chromium, tungsten and Tungsten (H20-H39) resistance to softening at extrusion dies (may be water cooled in service
molybdenum Molybdenum (H40-H59) elevated temperatures without cracking)
Tungsten high-speed tool T Tungsten High hardenability and Cutting tools and high-temperature structural
steels hardness components, drills, reamers, broaches, milling
cutters, punches and dies
Molybdenum high-speed M Molybdenum High hardenability and Piercing punches, cutting tools, twist drills, planer 23
tool steels hardness tools, insert cutter blades
General heat treatment – Thermomechanical processing

• Normalising
• Annealing
– Full and isothermal
• Stress relieving

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 Normalising:
• Normalising requires slow and uniform heating above the transformation
range (above the A3 or Acm temperature) to dissolve excess constituents,
followed by cooling in still air

Normalising
also
conditions
the steel for
subsequent
spherodising,
annealing or
hardening
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Annealing
• Tool steels are usually received from the
supplier in the annealed condition,
allowing the steel to be easily machined
and heat treated
• Any ensuing hot or cold forming process
must be followed by a full anneal before
subsequent operations
• A full anneal is also necessary when a
tool is to be rehardened, especially in the
case of high alloy grades, to prevent
irregular grain growth and a mixed grain
size (sometimes called fish scale) 26
Annealing: (Continued)

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Stress relieving

• Stress relieving reduces or removes

residual stresses induced by heavy
machining or forming
• It is usually performed at a temperature
below the steel’s transformation range.
Steels that have not been hardened can be
stress relieved at temperatures between
510 ºC and 590 ºC
• When a tool is in the hardened condition, it
may be stress relieved by tempering.
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General heat treatment – Thermomechanical processing

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Austenitizing:
• Most critical heat treatment performed
• Too high Temperatures or too long holding times:
– excessive distortion
– grain growth
– loss of ductility
– low strength

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Hardness as a function of tempering temperature for as-quenched, quenched and
subzero cooled to -80°C, and quenched and subzero cooled to -180°C A2 tool steels for 31
austenitising temperatures of (a) 950 °C, (b) 1000 °C, (c) 1050 °C and (d) 1100 °C.
 Austenitizing: (Continued)
• Alloying elements not in carbides are dissolved in austenite matrix 
controlling austenite composition

• Will determine the:

– hardenability

– Ms temp

– retained austenite content

– secondary hardening potential of tool steel

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 Austenitizing: (Continued)
• Preheating of tool steels before austenitizing – good practice

• Not always required for small pieces or simple shapes

• When employed it is a safeguard against cracking or severe distortion due

to thermal shock

• Usually performed in separate furnace

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Quenching
• May be performed in different media – depends
on alloy composition or component thickness
• Quenching medium must cool rapidly enough to
obtain full hardness
• Quenching medium with higher cooling capacity
than required may lead to possible cracking or
distortion
• Martempering often utilised to minimise
distortion in oil-hardening tool steels

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Tempering:
• Modifies as-quenched properties  better
combination of strength, hardness and toughness

• Desirable to transform all retained austenite

• Retained austenite more easily eliminated with

short multiple tempers than one large temper

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Tempering: General responses of tool steels
• Class 1 tool steels: Carbon and
low alloy tool steels.

Response to tempering similar to that

of conventional steels.

• Class 2 tool steels: Medium to

high alloy cold work tool steels.

Softening during tempering is

retarded by carbide precipitation.
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Tempering: General responses of tool steels
• Class 3 tool steels: Highly alloyed high
speed steels.

Secondary hardening during tempering.

• Class 4 tool steels: Medium to high

alloy hot worked steels.

Low as-quenched hardness due to low

carbon content.

Effective secondary hardening. 37

Carburising, flame hardening
Carburising: is a thermochemical process in which carbon is diffused into the
surface of low carbon steels to increase the carbon content to sufficient levels so
that the surface will respond to heat treatment and produce a hard, wear-resistant
layer.
Flame hardening: is the process of heat treating localised areas of tools or dies
using an oxyfuel gas torch, usually hand held, and cooling with an air or liquid
quench. Hardening is accomplished by progressively heating to the proper
austenitising temperature and then quenching at a rate sufficient to form hard
martensite. This process is used to harden working areas of tools and dies where
the entire component is too large to place in a furnace or when a furnace is not
available. It may also be employed when a hard edge and a soft core are required
to best meet the needs of the particular application. Other methods of localised
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hardening include induction and laser hardening.
 Nitriding and cold treating
Nitriding: is a heat treating process that diffuses nitrogen into the surface of a metal to create a
case-hardened surface. These processes are most commonly used on low-alloy steels. They are
also used on titanium, aluminium and molybdenum.
The main objectives of nitriding are to increase the surface hardness of the material, as well as
its wear resistance, fatigue life, and corrosion resistance, which are achieved by the presence of
the nitrided layer.
Nitriding successfully increases the life of all types of high-speed steel cutting tools. Gas
nitriding is limited to hot work tool steels (H grades) and tooling for aluminium extrusion dies,
because it produces a case that is too brittle for most applications.
Cold treating: Cold treatment of steel consists of exposing the ferrous material to subzero
temperatures to either impart or enhance specific conditions or properties of the material.
The main purpose of cold treating tool steels (to -75°C or lower) is to transform retained
austenite in the unfinished tool for dimensional stability and maximum wear resistance. When
used, cold treatment should be performed between the first and second tempering operations.39
Heat treatment of plain – carbon steels
1. Plain-carbon steels containing up to 0.3% carbon:
-Low-carbon steels with less than 0,15% carbon have very low hardenability,
and are generally unresponsive to most heat treatment processes.
-Three principal types of heat treatments are used for mild steels with
nominal carbon contents below about 0,3%:
a.Case hardening treatments that produce a hard wear resistant surface layer
over a tough, resilient core.
b.Conditioning treatments, such as process annealing, spherodising or stress
relieving, which prepare the steel for certain fabricating operations.
c.Quenching and tempering treatments to improve machinability.
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Heat treatment of plain – carbon steels
2. Carbon steels containing 0,3% to 0,55% carbon:
These steels are usually defined as medium-carbon steels (maximum
manganese content of 1%) or medium-carbon manganese steels (between 1%
and 1,7% manganese).
Because of their higher carbon content, these steels are normally used in the
hardened and tempered condition. By varying the quenching medium and the
tempering temperature, a wide range of mechanical properties can be
produced.

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3. Carbon steels containing 0,55% to 1,0% carbon:
- These high-carbon steels are restricted in application due to decreased machinability, poor
formability and weldability, which make them more difficult to fabricate.
- They are also less ductile after hardening and tempering. Most parts made from steels in
this group are hardened by conventional quenching.
- However, special techniques are necessary at times. Both water and oil quenching are
used, water for heavy sections of the lower carbon grades and for cutting edges, and oil for
general purposes.
- Austempering and martempering are often applied successfully to reduce distortion, to
eliminate breakages in many instances, and to improve toughness at high hardnesses.
- Even with all hardenability factors favourable and the use of a drastic quench, these steels
are much shallower hardening than alloy steels, because carbon alone, or in combination
with manganese in the amounts specified, does not promote deep hardening.
- Therefore, the section thicknesses for which these steels are suited are more limited.
- Quench cracking is likely and must be guarded against when such parts are heat treated,
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especially parts of nonuniform section.
Heat treatment of alloy steels:
- Alloy steels are usually defined as steels containing a maximum of
0,45% carbon, and a total alloying element content (excluding
manganese) of more than 1%.
- These steels are normally not used without appropriate heat
treatment.
- They are usually quench hardened and tempered to the level of
strength required for the application.
- The tempered martensite or bainite microstructure obtained in this
way combines optimum strength with toughness and formability.
Several elements are commonly used to increase hardenability (in
approximately the following ascending order: Ni, Si, Mn, Cr, Mo, V
and B). 43
Heat treatment of alloy steels:
•The thermal stresses that develop during quenching tend to be greater in alloy steel components than
in plain-carbon steels (necessarily smaller sections).
•The greater stresses result in distortion and increase the risk of cracking.
•Alloying elements, however, have two functions that tend to offset these disadvantages.
1. Alloying permits the use of a lower carbon content for a given application. The decrease in
hardenability associated with a decrease in carbon content may be readily offset by the
hardenability effect of the added alloying elements, and the lower carbon steel will exhibit a
much lower susceptibility to quench cracking. This is due to the greater plasticity of low
carbon martensite and the generally higher temperature at which martensite forms in lower
carbon materials.
2. To permit the use of slower cooling rates for a given section because of increased
hardenability. This reduces the thermal gradient and, in turn, the stresses that develop during
cooling. In general, the use of a less drastic quench suited to the hardenability of the steel will
result in less distortion and greater freedom from cracking. The increased hardenability of
these steels may also permit heat treatment by austempering or martempering, thereby
minimising the levels of residual stress before tempering. 44
Heat treatment of high strength structural and high-strength, low
alloy (HSLA) steels:
• High-strength structural steels were developed primarily to obtain improved strength-to-
weight ratios in transportation equipment, but are now used in a wide range of applications,
including construction machinery, materials-handling equipment, bridges and buildings.
• The need for structural steels with still higher strength-to-weight ratios in combination with
adequate weldability and fabricability led to the development of heat treatable grades of
high-strength steels.
• HSLA steels are not normally considered as alloy steels, but rather as low-alloy steels,
formulated with small amounts of certain alloying elements to provide higher strength,
better toughness and weldability, and in some cases, greater resistance to corrosion in
specific environments, than ordinary steels.
• They are usually sold on the basis of minimum mechanical properties. The chemical
compositions of many of these steels are considered proprietary, and the specific alloy
content is left to the discretion of the steel producer. 45
1. As-rolled pearlitic structural steels:
• The as-rolled pearlitic structural steels comprise a group of steels in which enhanced
mechanical properties (and, in some cases, resistance to atmospheric corrosion) are
obtained by the addition of moderate amounts of one or more alloying elements other than
carbon.
• Some of these steels are carbon-manganese steels and differ from ordinary carbon steels
only in having a higher manganese content.
• Other pearlitic structural steels contain small amounts of other alloying elements, which are
added to enhance weldability, formability, toughness or strength.
• These steels are characterised by as-rolled yield strengths in the range of 290 to 345 MPa
and are not intended for quenching and tempering. For certain applications they may be
annealed, normalised or stress relieved.

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2. Microalloyed HSLA steels::
• HSLA steels are strengthened by a combination of grain refinement, precipitation hardening
and substructural strengthening.
• Strengthening is achieved by adding niobium and vanadium (sometimes also Ti, Zr or rare
earths), singly or in combination, with maximum contents of around 0,1%, without
increasing the C or Mn contents.
• Increasing the level of C and/or manganese is detrimental to weldability and toughness.
• Molybdenum or nickel may be added where thicker sections or higher strengths are
involved.
• HSLA steels often have strict control of impurities to enhance formability, resistance to
lamellar tearing and notch toughness. Controlled rolling results in benefits to both strength
and toughness for steels having yield strengths of the order of 345 to 550 MPa. Heat
treatment is not required because the properties result from controlled rolling, and HSLA
steels are used mainly in the as-rolled or normalised conditions.
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History of the development of HSLA steels:
i.Design was based on tensile strength, with little cognisance taken of yield
stress, toughness or weldability (the most common form of joining structural
fabrications being riveting). Steels contained relatively high carbon contents of
the order of 0,3%. Steels were used in the as-rolled condition, with little or no
control over rolling temperatures.
ii.The advent of the use of welding rather than riveting as a joining method
necessitated a lower carbon content. Strength was maintained by increasing the
manganese content.
iii.Failure by brittle fracture of welded structures resulted in the recognition that
impact or fracture toughness was important, and the need for a low transition
temperature became apparent. It was also recognised that a high yield strength
was more important than a high tensile strength. The carbon content was
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therefore lowered, and manganese was maintained at a high level.
Fe-C-Mn steel

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History of the development of HSLA steels:
iv.Grain size refinement by grain-refining additions, such as aluminium-nitrogen, was
introduced (only in the normalised condition) resulting in an increase in yield stress (225 MPa
to 300 MPa) and a lowering in DBTT to below 0°C.
v.Further yield stress increases were achieved by precipitation hardening, still maintaining low
carbon and high manganese levels in fine-grained compositions. Nb, V and Ti were used.
Impact toughness was low because of a coarse as-rolled grain size.
vi.Low finishing temperatures refined the coarse as-rolled grain size and maintained some
degree of precipitation hardening. Yield strengths increased to a range of 450 MPa to 525 MPa
with DBTT’s as low as -80°C.
vii.Improvement in the general formability, and in particular the through-thickness ductility
and toughness in plate, by adding Zr, Ce or Ca to modify planar non-metallic inclusions
(oxides and sulphides). In the presence of these elements, the inclusions form rounded globules
rather than elongated particles.

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High-strength structural carbon steels:
➢ These steels are basically carbon-manganese-silicon steels, with some grades
containing small additions of other alloying elements.
➢ Such alloys are either normalised or quenched and tempered to produce
minimum yield strengths of 290 MPa to 690 MPa.
➢ Normalised grades are available in minimum yield strengths up to 415 MPa,
with minimum Charpy V-notch impact strengths as high as 27 J at -68°C.
➢ Quenching and tempering can provide a tempered martensitic or bainitic
structure that results in better combinations of strength and toughness.
➢ These grades have minimum yield strengths of 345 MPa to 690 MPa.

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Heat treated structural low-alloy grades:
➢ These steels have better hardenability than the carbon grades and can provide
both high strength and toughness in thicker sections.
➢ Their alloy content provides improved heat and corrosion resistance.
➢ However, these steels are more difficult to weld and generally more expensive
than the carbon or HSLA grades.
➢ The properties required of these steels are produced by heating to at least
900°C, quenching in water or oil, and tempering at not less than 600°C to
provide microstructures consisting of tempered martensite or tempered
martensite plus bainite, depending on the section thickness.
➢ Thick plates are sometimes double tempered to improve toughness.
➢ Quenched and tempered structural HSLA grades provide minimum yield
strengths of 550 to 760 MPa. 52