Material Science
In the crystal structure, atomic packing factor (APF) or packing efficiency or packing fraction is the volume of
atoms in a unit cell divided by the volume of the unit cell. It is a dimensionless quantity and always less than
unity
The atomic packing factor of different crystal structures is given in the table below:
No of atoms in b.c.c unit cell = 2
APF=NatomsVatomVcrystal=2(43)πr3(a)3=2(43)πr3(4r3√)3APF=NatomsVatomVcrystal=2(43)πr3(a)3=2(43)πr3(4
r3)3
for BCC a=4r3√a=4r3where a is side of the cube and r is atomic radius.
= 0.68
The Atomic packing factor for different crystal structures are given in table.
Unit Cell Coordination No. No. of Atoms Per Unit Cell Atomic packing factor
Simple Unit Cell 6 1 52%
Body-centred Cubic
8 2 68%
V, Mo, Ta, W, Ferrite or α-iron, δ-
ferrite or δ-iron
Face-centred Cubic
12 4 74%
Ni, Cu, Ag, Pt, Au, Pb, Al, Austenite
or γ-iron
Hexagonal Closest Packed 12 6 74%
Wrought iron is a mixture of very pure iron and slag. Wrought iron is a soft, ductile, fibrous variety that is produced
from relatively pure iron globules partially surrounded by slag.
It usually contains less than 0.1% carbon and 1 or 2% slag.
Wrought iron never cast.
The composition of Wrought iron is,
o Iron - 99-99.8%
o Carbon - 0.05-0.25%
o Manganese - 0.01-0.1%
o Sulfur - 0.02-0.1%
o Phosphorus - 0.05-0.2%
o Silicon - 0.02-0.2%
Steel
Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, along with small amounts of other alloying elements or residual
elements as well.
The plain iron-carbon alloys (Steel) contain 0.002 - 2.1% by weight carbon. For most of the materials, it
varies from 0.1-1.5%.
There are 3 types of plain carbon steel:
o Low-carbon steels: Carbon content in the range of < 0.3%
o Medium carbon steels: Carbon content in the range of 0.3 – 0.6%.
o High-carbon steels: Carbon content in the range of 0.6 – 1.4%.
With the increase in carbon content the strength, hardness, and brittleness increases, on the other
hand, the ductility and toughness decrease.
To increase the corrosion resistance property of steel some alloying elements
like chromium and nickel are added to steel.
Final heat treatment given to forging die is hardening and tempering.
White Cast Iron:
At low values of C.E., < 3 (C up to 2.5% and Si < 1.5%) and rapid cooling, the cementite will not have
sufficient time to break into graphite and austenite.
As a result, the total carbon will be exclusively in the combined form of Iron Carbide, Fe 3 C (Cementite).
It is a very hard and brittle metal with the entire cross-section having a white microstructure.
Due to this, the metal is virtually unimaginable except by grinding and so has very limited applications.
Product Applications:
The use of white C.I. is limited for wear-resistant parts such as grinding balls, liners for ore-crushing mills
and cement mixers, extrusion dies, and some agricultural machinery.
However, it is widely used in the manufacturer of wrought iron and for making malleable iron castings.
Additional Information
Chilled Cast Iron:
Quick cooling is called chilling and the iron so product is chilled iron. It is made by placing "metal chills"
inside the mould but near its surface.
The molten metal, when poured into the mould, cools rapidly to produce a hard wear-resistant surface (of 1
to 2 mm thick) consisting of white cast iron.
Below this surface, the material is gray cast iron.
Chilled cast iron can only be machined by grinding and is used in making stamping dies, mill and crushing
rolls, railway wheels, car wheels, cam followers and so on.
Austempering:
In this process, steel is heated above the austenitizing temperature (923°C). It is then quenched in the bath
maintained at the temperature above the martensite start temperature within the Bainitic range (200–400°C
generally).
The final structure is Bainite in austempering.
Bainite has higher toughness and ductility than martensite but its hardness and strength are less compared
to martensite.
In isothermal quenching or austempering, the steel is heated to the required hardening temperature in the
same manner as in martempering but the quenching time in the salt bath is longer.
Another difference in this method is that the salt bath temperature for austempering is above the martensite
point to ensure a sufficiently complete austenite decomposition into bainite.
Generally heat treatment is applicable only for steels due to the presence of austenite, hence hardness of brass can be
improved by cold working process.
Elastic Constant depends only on the basic crystal structure and not on geometry and loading condition. While
work hardening, Fatigue and fracture strength also depend on the geometry and loading conditions.
Spherodising Annealing
This process is applied to high carbon steels which are difficult to machined. It causes the formation of
all carbides of steel in the form of very small globules or spheroids like sphere thus increases the
machineability.
This process consists of heating the steel slightly above the lower critical temperature (730 - 770°C),
holding at this temperature and then cooling slowly to 600°C. The rate of cooling in the furnace is 25 -
30°C/hr.
Varieties of heat treatment temperature an be used to produce a spheroidized temperature but all of them
are relatively lengthy and costly.
Another method is to use a high temperature isothermal transformation of Austenite.
PROCESS FUNCTION
It produces a uniform grain structure, so that strength could be improved.
Normalizing It removes cold and hot working stresses. It is done above upper critical temp.
and cooled at still air.
It softens the material and brings about required changes in properties such as
Annealing Machinability, Mechanical or Electrical properties.
It increases the strength of the metal and increases wear resistance
Quenching and hardenability but makes the metal brittle and of low ductility.
It restores ductility and reduces hardness.
Tempering Increased toughness is obtained at the expense of high strength.
Case hardening It is a process of hardening the outer portion of the metal while the core remains
soft and tough.
(carburizing)
Three important transformations of the iron-carbon equilibrium diagram
Eutectoid Reaction
Austenite (γ ) (S) ⇄ Ferrite (α-iron) (S) + Carbide (Fe3C) (S)
At temperature 723° C and carbon composition 0.8%
One solid converted into two solids.
Eutectic reaction
Liquid Iron (L) ⇄ Austenite (S) + Cementite (S)
At temperature 1130° C and carbon composition 4.3%.
One liquid converts in two solids.
Peritectic reaction
At temperature 1498°C and carbon composition 0.09%
δ –iron (S) + Liquid iron (L) ⇄ Austenite (S)
One liquid and one solid converts into another solid.
Hardenability is defined as the depth up to which the required hardness is achieved.
In case of aluminium, with ageing the hardness will increase.
Annealing is used for relieving stresses, normalizing used for producing fine grains, martempering is used for
producing matensite and give high brittleness and nitriding is the surface hardening heat treatment process.
Toughness is defined as the ability of the material to absorb energy before fracture takes place. This property is
essential for machine components which are required to withstand impact loads. Tough materials have the ability to
bend, twist or stretch before failure takes place.
Hardness is defined as the resistance of a material to penetration or permanent deformation. It usually
indicates resistance to abrasion, scratching, indentation, cutting or shaping. It is a surface phenomenon.
Proof resilience is the quantity of strain energy stored in a body when strained up to the elastic limit (ability to
store or absorb energy without permanent deformation).
Ductility: The property of the material that allows it to be drawn into wires or elongated before failure is known
as ductility.
Malleability: Malleability is the property of a metal by which it can Be extended in any direction by hammering,
rolling, etc. without causing a rupture. Lead is an example of a malleable metal.
Brittleness: The property of a material that produces fracture without any appreciable deformation is known as
brittleness. It is opposite of toughness.
Elasticity: It is the property of a material to regain its original shape after deformation when the external forces
are removed.
Tenacity: The tenacity of a metal is its ability to resist the effect of tensile forces without rupturing. Mild steel,
Wrought Iron and copper are some examples of tenacious metals.
Jominy test is used for finding hardenability i.e. case of martensite formation
Various devices and their properties are mentioned in the table below.
Devices Properties
An autocollimator is an optical instrument which is
used to measure small angles with high
sensitivity.
Autocollimator It is also used for plane surface inspection i.e. to
measure straightness, flatness and alignment of
a plane surface.
Vernier calliper It is used to measure outer dimensions of the
objects (using the main jaws), inside
dimension (using the smaller jaws at the top)
and depth (using stem).
It is used for measuring the width of the slot and
external dimensions.
Height gauge It is used with a dial indicator to check hole
location, pitch dimensions, concentricity and
eccentricity.
This is designed for measurement on parts of complex
forms e.g. profile of external threads, tools, templates
Tool maker’s and gauges.
microscope It can also be used for measuring centre-to-centre
distances of holes in any planes.
Talysurf is an electronic equipment which is used to
Talysurf measure surface roughness.
It works on carrier modulating principle.
It is an indirect measuring gauge and used to
measure any hole, slot or bore.
Telescopic gauge The shape of this gauge is as T (English letter) with
knurling on the backside of the handle.
The parts which cannot be measured directly by scale
are measured by callipers.
Transfer callipers are the callipers which have
Transfer callipers adjustable legs so that it can be used to measure
confined or recessed areas.
for example, T shape, U shape etc.
