Indian Institute of Welding – ANB

Refresher Course – Module 01

Metals – Structure
 Contents

 Structure of Metals

 Structure of Steels
 A Metallurgical Process

 Welding is the joining of two or more

pieces of metal by applying
 Heat or
 Pressure or both …. to form a
 Localized union through
 Fusion
 Re-crystallization across the interface

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 Why should Welding Technologists
learn metallurgy
 Welding is mostly done for fabrication of metals
and alloys

 The final properties of the welded assembly will

depend on the metallurgical structure of the parent
metal and the weld.

 All welding processes involve heating and cooling

of the components being welded

 Thus to ensure a satisfactory welded component,

it is necessary to understand metallurgical
structures and how they and the weld thermal
cycle, determine the properties of the weld joint.
Welding a major fabrication process
 General Engineering
 Construction - Earthmoving equipment, cranes
 Infrastructure - Buildings , bridges , roads, flyovers, tunnels
 Projects -, refineries, fertilizers, steel plants, chemical &
petrochemical plants
 Automotive sector - 2- wheelers, cars, trucks, buses
 Railways - Coaches, locomotives, wagons
 Shipbuilding and aircraft
 Power plants & pressure vessels
 Consumer durable - Refrigerators, ACs, Almirahs
 Defence - Tanks, APCs, Aircraft, Rockets
 Food processing - Dairy, brewery, cooking, freezing eqpt.
 Materials of Construction
 Mild steels, High strength low alloy steels
All general engineering, Infrastructure, Automotive, Shipbuilding,
Railways
 High tensile steels
Defence, penstocks for hydel plants
 Creep resisting steels.
Boilers and piping in thermal power plants
 Stainless steels - Austenitic
Chemical & petrochemical plant, refineries, cryogenic plant, food
processing, pharmaceuticals
 Aluminium
Light structurals, boats, dairy equipment, busbars
 Copper, Nickel and alloys, Titanium
Vessel, piping & heat exchangers in chemicals & food
Structure of Metals
 Structure of metals

 All metals and alloys are crystalline bodies with their atoms
arranged in regular order, which is periodically repeated in
three directions
 They distinguish them from amorphous bodies whose atoms
are in random order
 Metals obtained by conventional methods are polycrystalline
bodies, consisting of great number of fine crystals differently
oriented with respect to one another
 All typical properties of metals can be explained by the fact
that they contain highly mobile electrons.
 Common Properties of Metals

 Out of more than 106 elements known, 76 are metals

 All metals do exhibit some typical properties,
common to them:
 high thermal and electrical conductivity - due to presence of
free electron
 positive temperature co-efficient of electrical resistivity
 thermo-ionic emission
 good reflectivity of light
 lend themselves to plastic deformation - due to ordered
arrangement of atom
 Pure Metals & Alloys

 In their ordinary structural state pure metals are of

low strength and do not possess required
physicochemical and structural properties for
required service, in most cases. Consequently they
are seldom used in engineering applications.
 Overwhelming majority of metals are thus used as
alloys.
 Example :
 Steel, Cast iron, Copper alloys, Aluminium alloys etc
 Structure of metals
 The basic structure of a metal or alloy is a crystal consisting
of the metal atoms located in a specific 3-dimensional
arrangement or lattice
 For iron you have 2 crystal structures - polymorphism

Alpha iron – upto 912 deg C Gamma iron – 912 – 1394 deg C
Delta iron – 1394 – 1539 deg C
HCP- Hexagonal Close packed

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Single Crystal

Unit Cell
Polycrystal

Grain
boundary
 Crystal boundary or
Grain boundary

 In these regions there exists a film of metals, some

three atoms thick, in which atoms do not conform to
any pattern
 This crystal boundary is of amorphous nature
 Metallic bond acts within and across the crystal
boundary and therefore not necessarily an area of
weakness
 Impurity atoms has got tendency to segregate at
grain boundary or crystal boundary.
 Depending on the nature of impurity atom they may
strengthen or weaken the boundary
Grain Boundary
 Defects in Metals - Dislocations

 Any real crystal always has defects in its

structure and deviates from perfect periodicity
 These defects are called Lattice defects / Lattice
imperfections / Dislocations
 Metals and alloys get deformed when
dislocations are forced to move by the
application of force
 Any solute atom, phase or inter-metallic that
resists the flow of dislocations are the
strengthening agents in any alloy system
 Structure of metals

 Phases are distinct states of aggregation of

matter
 Gases : Always single phase
 Liquids : Pure liquid or solution – single phase,
immiscible liquids eg. Oil & water – two phases
 Solids : Different crystal structures ( even having
the same composition ) form different phases.
Can be single or multi-phase.
 A phase is a homogeneous and physically
distinct portion of the material
 Microstructure, as seen under a microscope
reveals the phases that exist in the material
together
 Structure of metals…..
 Grains
 During solidification from the liquid
phase or re-crystallization from one
solid phase to another, crystals
nucleate at different points within
the parent phase and grow until
they impinge on one another and
form individual grains.
 Structure
 Structure of a metal / alloy implies
the metallurgical phases present,
their dispersion, shape, orientation
and grain size. All of these go to
determine its physical and
mechanical properties
Structure of Steels
 Carbon & Alloy steels

 Steels are alloys of iron with a max.

carbon content of 2%
 Plain carbon steels contain less than 1.65
Mn, 0.6 Si and 0.6 Cu
 Alloys steels contain Mn, Si, Cu in greater
quantities or other alloying elements
 Alloying additions enhance their mechanical
properties
 Typical alloying elements are Ni, Cr, Mo, V

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 Phases in steel

 Ferrite:
 solid solution of carbon in α-
iron; Maximum solubility of C:
0.022% at 727°C
 Austenite: Ferrite or
 solid solution of carbon in γ- α iron
iron; Maximum solubility of C:
2.11% at 1146°C
 Delta(δ) ferrite:
 solid solution of carbon in delta
iron; Maximum solubility of C:
0.09% at 1495°C Austenite or
γ iron

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 Phases in steel
 Graphite:
 crystalline form of carbon having a
hexagonal crystal structure. Only
forms on very slow cooling
 Pearlite:
 Lamellar structure consisting of
alternate bands of Ferrite and
Cementite
Pearlite
 Cementite (Fe3C):
 an inter-metallic compound having a
complex orthorhombic structure; C -
6.67% by wt. Even though this is a
meta-stable phase, carbon is almost
always present in this form in steels.
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 Fe-C phase diagram

 The Fe-C (iron-carbon diagram)

helps us to understand the phases
in steel
 Important Concepts to understand
are:
 This is an “Equilibrium” diagram
 “Steels & Irons” – a clear distinction
 “Phase fields” & “reactions”
 “Critical temperatures”

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Phase transformation reactions
in steel

 Peritectic reaction
(1495°C)
 Liquid Fe + δ-Ferrite =
Austenite
 Eutectic reaction (1146°C)
 Liquid Fe = Austenite +
Cementite (Eutectic
mixture of austenite and
cementite is called
Ledeburite)
 Eutectoid reaction (727°C)
 Austenite = Ferrite +
Cementite (Eutectic
mixture of Ferrite and
Cementite called Pearlite)

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Phase transformation reactions
in steel..

 Micro-structures of
slowly cooled steels
 Eutectoid steel
 ( 0.77% C ) – fully
pearlitic
 Hypo-eutectoid steel
 (<0.77% C ) – Pro-
eutectoid ferrite +
Pearlite
 Hyper-eutectoid steel
 (>0.77% C ) – Pro-
eutectoid cementite
+ Pearlite

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 Effect of composition & cooling rate on
microstructure

A large variety of microstructures can

Austenite: fcc be developed in ferritic steel by
changing composition & cooling rate
Ferrite: bcc
Effect of cooling rate on Pearlite

Pearlitic structure is lamellar

with alternate bands of ferrite
+ pearlite

Faster cooling
V. Fine pearlite 35 – 40 Rc

Fast cooling
Fine pearlite 20 – 25 Rc
( air cooled )

Slow cooling
Coarse pearlite 5 – 10 Rc
( furnace cooled )

Cooling rate
Temperature – Time – Transformation
T-T-T Diagrams
 Bainite
 Formed in alloyed steels Bainite + accicular ferrite
when austenite is cooled
rapidly passed the nose of
the C-curve .
 Extremely fine mixture of
ferrite + carbide but not
lamellar like pearlite
 Formed between 500 – 220
C Upper Bainite or lower
Bainite depending on
temp.
 Has higher hardness and
toughness than pearlite
 Martensite
Martensite : Martensite
 Very hard and brittle phase.

 Formed on rapid cooling below

Ms temperature
Tempered Martensite : however
has a good combination of
strength and toughness and is
a useful structure and is
developed by re-heating
martensite
 Hardness depends on carbon
content of steel

Carbon % 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.8

Hardness Rc 38 44 50 57 60 63 65
 Martensite formation

For carbon steels very fast cooling

rates required to form Martensite

 3 deg C / sec – Fine pearlite

 35 deg C / sec - Very fine pearlite +
martensite
 140 deg C / sec – martensite
 Effect of alloying additions

 Alloying elements such as Ni, Cr, Mn, Si, Mo & V shift the
nose of the C-C-T curve to the right. Exception Cobalt
which shifts it to left
 This is because they slow down growth of pearlite. Eg -
0.5% Mo slows growth rate X 100
 Martensite can thus be formed at much slower cooling rates
 In a Ni-Cr-Mo low alloy steel cooling rate of
8 deg C / sec – Full martensite
0.3 deg / sec – Bainite + martensite
0.02 deg / sec – Pearlite
Note : Alloy elements do not affect the hardness of the
Martensite they only affect the ease with which Martensite
forms
 Structural features of ferritic steel
Ferrite + TS = f(P) ~ %C; grain
Pearlite F P size & carbide spacing
Continuous plate
Cooling rate / strength

Upper Bainite TS = f(plate width %

carbide & its spacing)
B Broken platelets

Lower Bainite TS = f(plate width, %

carbide & its spacing)
B Broken fine platelets

Martensite TS = f(%C)
Brittle & unstable
M No ppt.
Needle (lens) shape
 Mild steel for structural purposes

 Carbon 0.15 – 0.25 % ( covered by IS: 2062 )

 Used in as-rolled and air-cooled condition in the
form of plates, channels & other structural
sections
 Structure : Ferrite + 25% fine pearlite
 Properties : Y.S. – 300 to 350 Mpa
UTS - 400 to 450 Mpa
El - 26 – 30
Low carbon steels – 0.1% C
 Structure : Mainly ferrite + small amount pearlite
 Properties : YS - 200–300 mpa, UTS - 300–370 mpa
elongation 28–40%
 Very good ductility, used as cold rolled sheets in
automobile and white goods industry
High strength low alloy structural steels

 Carbon in same range as mild steels 0.15 – 0.25%

 Low amounts of alloying elements Mo, Cr, Cu, Ni etc
added eg. weathering steels to IS: 11587
 Structure accicular ferrite and bainite or ferrite and
tempered martensite
 Sronger and tougher than pearlitic steels with higher
strength
 Hardenability is increased which affects weldability

YS 400-700 MPa
UTS 500-800 MPa
Elongation 18-25%
 Micro – alloyed HSLA steels

 Fine dispersion of alloy carbides results in strengthening by

precipitation hardening
 Small amounts of carbide forming elements eg. Nb, V, Ti etc added
Total amount 0.20% max as such called Micro-alloyed steels
 Controlled rolling at low finish roll temperatures results in very fine
grain size ASTM 12 – 14. Also improves strength.
 Range of medium and high tensile steel developed to give improved
strength and toughness without impairing weldability. Covered by
IS:8500 - 1991
 Gives comparitively lower elongation but better toughness than low
alloy HSLA steels

 Properties : UTS 600 – 650 MPa

YS 400 – 500 MPa
Elongation 20 – 22 %
 Properties of typical Micro-alloyed steels
Grade / Trade %C % Mn % Si % MA YS UTS
name MPa MPa

ASTM A633 0.20 1.50 0.50 0.05 Nb 350 min 600 min
Gr C

SAILMA 410 0.25 1.50 0.50 Nb+V+Ti 410 min 540 - 660
=0.20

SAILMA 450 0.25 1.50 0.50 Nb+V+Ti 450 min 570 - 720
=0.20

SAILMA 450HI 0.20 1.50 0.50 Nb+V+Ti 450 min 570 – 720
=0.20 CVN = 19.6J
Min at – 20C

TISTEN 60 0.20 1.80 0.50 0.20 440 min 590 min

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