Faculty of Engineering

University of Kragujevac

Seminar work

Theme:
Carbon Steel

Professor:
Dr Sandra Stefanovic

Student:
Tomica Mutavdzic 11/2015

Kragujevac, 2015

Contents
1. Foreword ........................................................................................................... 2
2. Carbon steel....................................................................................................... 3
3. Material Properties ............................................................................................ 5
4. Heat treatment of carbon steel .......................................................................... 7
5. Modern steel making......................................................................................... 9
5.1. Wootz steel and domascus way .................................................................. 9
5.2. Bessemer converter ................................................................................... 10
5.3. Siemens-Martin steel ................................................................................ 11
6. Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 12
7. Literature ......................................................................................................... 13

Foreword
In this seminar work I choose theme ,,Carbon steel. Reason beacuse I
choose this theme is this:
Carbon steel is one of the most important steel in The World. Of course there is
much more steels, but I choose this one.
In introduction of Carbon steel you will see what is carbon steel, in which
five classes is broken down based on carbon content.
Then you will see material properties of carbon steel, and one phase diagram
that describe the conditions necessary to form different phases, and you will see
some methods of modern steel making.
At the end of this seminar, you will see what literature I used.

Carbon steel
Carbon steel, also called plain-carbon steel, is steel where the main interstitial
alloying constituent is carbon. We can define carbon steel as: Steel that is considered to be
carbon steel when no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt,
molibdenum, nickl, niobium, titanium, tungsten, vanadium or zirconium, or any other
element to be added to obtain a desired alloying effect. When the specified minimum for
copper does not exceed 0.40 percent or when the maximum content specified for any of the
following elements does not exceed the percentages noted: manganese 1.65, silicon 0.60,
copper 0.60 (Amsterdam University, 2010).
The term carbon steel may also be used in reference to steel which is not stainless steel, in
this use carbon steel may include alloy papers (Amsterdam University, 2010).
As the carbon content rises, steel has the ability to become harder and stronger throught heat
treating and this also makes it less ductile. Regardless of the heat treatment, a higher carbon
content reduces weldability. In carbon steels, the higher carbon content lowers the melting
point (Amsterdam University, 2010).
Carbon steel is broken down in to five classes based on carbon content:
Low carbon steel:
Low carbon steels suffer from yield-point runout where the material has two yield
points. The first yield point (or upper yield point) is higher than the second and the yield
drops dramatically after the upper yield point. If a low carbon steel is only stressed to some
point between the upper and lower yield point then the surface may develop Luder bands
(Amsterdam University, 2010).
Mild carbon steel:
Mild carbon steel is the most common form of steel because its price is relatively low
while it provides material properties that are acceptable for many applications. Low carbon
steel contains approximately 0.050.25% carbon and mild carbon steel contains 0.160.29%
carbon; there fore, it is neither brittle nor ductile. Mild steel has a relatively low tensile
strength, but it is cheap and malleable; surface hardness can be increased through carburizing.
It is often used when large quantities of steel are needed, for example as structural steel
(Amsterdam University, 2010).
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Higher carbon steels:

Carbon steels which can successfully undergo heat-treatment have a carbon content in
the range of 0.301.70% by weight. Trace impurities of various other elements can have a
significant effect on the quality of the resulting steel. Trace amounts of sulfur in particular
make the steel red-short. Low alloy carbon steel, such as A36 grade, contains about 0.05%
sulfur and melts around 14261538C. Manganese is often added to improve the
hardenability of low carbon steels. These additions turn the material into a low alloy steel by
some definitions, but main definition of carbon steel allows up to 1.65% manganese by
weight (Amsterdam University 2010).
Medium carbon steel:
Approximately 0.30.6% carbon content. Balances ductility and strength and has
good wear resistance, used for large parts, forging and automotive components (Amsterdam
University, 2010).
High carbon steel:
Approximately 0.61% carbon content. Very strong, used for springs and highstrength wires (Amsterdam University, 2010).
Ultra-high carbon steel:
Approximately 12 % carbon content. Steels that can be tempered to great hardness.
Used for special purposes like knives, axles or punches. Most steels with more than 1.2%
carbon content are made using powder metallurgy. Note that steel with a carbon content
above 2.1% is considered cast iron (Amsterdam University, 2010).

Material Properties
Iron is found in the Earth's crust only in the form of an ore, i.e., combined with other
elements such as oxygen or sulfur (Amsterdam University, 2010). Typical iron-containing
minerals include Fe2O3the form of iron oxide found as the mineral hematite, and FeS2
pyrite (Amsterdam University, 2010). Iron is extracted from ore by removing oxygen and
combining the ore with a preferred chemical partner such as carbon. This process, known as
smelting, was first applied to metals with lower melting points, such as tin, which melts at
approximately 250 C and copper, which melts at approximately 1,100 C (Amsterdam
University, 2010). In comparison, cast iron melts at approximately 1,375 C. All of these
temperatures could be reached with ancient methods that have been used since the Bronze
Age (Amsterdam University, 2010). Since the oxidation rate itself increases rapidly beyond
800 C , it is important that smelting take place in a low-oxygen environment. Unlike copper
and tin, liquid iron dissolves carbon quite readily. Smelting results in an alloy containing too
much carbon to be called steel. The excess carbon and other impurities are removed in a
subsequent step (Amsterdam University, 2010).
Iron-carbon phase diagram (Amsterdam University, 2010), showing the conditions necessary
to form different phases:

Nickel and manganese in steel add to its tensile strength and make austenite more chemically
stable, chromium increases hardness and melting temperature, and vanadium also increases
hardness while reducing the effects of metal fatigue (Amsterdam University, 2010). To
prevent corrosion, at least 11% chromium is added to steel so that a hard oxide forms on the
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metal surface; this is known as stainless steel. Tungsten interferes with the formation of
cementite, allowing martensite to form with slower quench rates, resulting in high speed
steel. On the other hand, sulfur, nitrogen, and phosphorus make steel more brittle, so these
commonly found elements must be removed from the ore during processing. Even in the
narrow range of concentrations which make up steel, mixtures of carbon and iron can form a
number of different structures, with very different properties (Amsterdam University, 2010).
Understanding such properties is essential to making quality steel. At room temperature, the
most stable form of iron is the body-centered cubic (BCC) structure a-ferrite. It is a fairly soft
metallic material that can dissolve only a small concentration of carbon, no more than 0.021
% at 723 C , and only 0.005% at 0 C (Amsterdam University, 2010).
When steels with less than 0.8% carbon, known as a hypoeutectoid steel, are cooled from an
austenitic phase the mixture attempts to revert to the ferrite phase, resulting in an excess of
carbon (Amsterdam University, 2010). One way for carbon to leave the austenite is for
cementite to precipitate out of the mix, leaving behind iron that is pure enough to take the
form of ferrite, resulting in a cementite-ferrite mixture. Cementite is a hard and brittle
intermetallic compound with the chemical formula of Fe3C (Amsterdam University, 2010).
At the eutectoid, 0.8% carbon, the cooled structure takes the form of pearlite, named after its
resemblance to mother of pearl. For steels that have more than 0.8% carbon the cooled
structure takes the form of pearlite and cementite (Amsterdam University, 2010).
Perhaps the most important polymorphic form is martensite, a metastable phase which is
significantly stronger than other steel phases (Amsterdam University, 2010). When the steel
is in an austenitic phase and then quenched it forms into martensite, because the atoms
"freeze" in place when the cell structure changes from FCC to BCC. Depending on the
carbon content the martensitic phase takes different forms. Below approximately 0.2%
carbon it takes an a ferrite BCC crystal form, but higher carbon contents take a body-centered
tetragonal (BCT) structure (Amsterdam University, 2010).

Heat treatment of carbon steel

The purpose of heat treating carbon steel is to change the mechanical properties of
steel and his copability to be more usefull, usually ductility, hardness, yield strength, or
impact resistance (Bowman B. and Lefrank P. 1998). Note that the electrical and thermal
conductivity are slightly altered. As with most strengthening techniques for steel, Young's
modulus is unaffected. Steel has a higher solid solubility for carbon in the austenite phase.
There fore all heat treatments, except spheroidizing and process annealing, start by heating to
an austenitic phase (Bowman B. and Lefrank P. 1998). The rate at which the steel is cooled
through the eutectoid reaction affects the rate at which carbon diffuses out of austenite.
Generally speaking, cooling swiftly will give a finer pearlite (until the martensite critical
temperature is reached) and cooling slowly will give a coarser pearlite.
Here is a list of the types of heat treatments possible:
Spheroidite:
Spheroidite forms when carbon steel is heated to approximately 700 C for over 30
hours. Spheroidite can form at lower temperatures but the time needed drastically increases,
as this is a diffusion-controlled process. The result is a structure of rods or spheres of
cementite within primary structure (ferrite or pearlite, depending on which side of the
eutectoid you are on) (Bowman B. and Lefrank P. 1998).
Full annealing:
Carbon steel is heated to approximately 40 C above Ac3 or Ac1 for 1 hour; this
assures all the ferrite transforms into austenite (although cementite might still exist if the
carbon content is greater than the eutectoid). The steel must then be cooled slowly, in the
realm of 38C per hour. Usually it is just furnace cooled, where the furnace is turned off with
the steel still inside. This results in a coarse pearlitic structure, which means the bands of
pearlite are thick (Bowman B. and Lefrank P. 1998).
Process annealing:
A process used to relieve stress in a cold-worked carbon steel with less than 0.3 % C.
The steel is usually heated up to 550650 C for 1 hour, but sometimes temperatures as high
as 700 C (Bowman B. and Lefrank P. 1998).

Isothermal annealing:
It is a process in which hypoeutectoid steel is heated above the upper critical
temperature and this temperature is maintained for a time and then the temperature is brought
down below lower critical temperature and is again maintained. Then finally it is cooled at
room temperature. This method rids any temperature gradient (Bowman B. and Lefrank P.
1998).
Normalizing:
Carbon steel is heated to approximately 55 C above Ac3 or Acm for 1 hour; this
assures the steel completely transforms to austenite. The steel is then air-cooled, which is a
cooling rate of approximately 38 C per minute. This results in a fine pearlitic structure, and a
more-uniform structure. Normalized steel has a higher strength than annealed steel; it has a
relatively high strength and ductility (Bowman B. and Lefrank P. 1998).
Quenching:
Carbon steel with at least 0.4 wt% C is heated to normalizing temperatures and then
rapidly cooled (quenched) in water, brine, or oil to the critical temperature. The critical
temperature is dependent on the carbon content, but as a general rule is lower as the carbon
content increases. This results in a martensitic structure (Bowman B. and Lefrank P. 1998).
Martempering:
Martempering (Marquenching): Martempering is not actually a tempering procedure,
hence the term "marquenching". It is a form of isothermal heat treatment applied after an
initial quench of typically in a molten salt bath at a temperature right above the "martensite
start temperature". At this temperature, residual stresses within the material are relieved and
some bainite may be formed from the retained austenite which did not have time to transform
into anything else (Bowman B. and Lefrank P. 1998).
Quench and tempering:
This is the most common heat treatment encountered, because the final properties can
be precisely determined by the temperature and time of the tempering. Tempering involves
reheating quenched steel to a temperature below the eutectoid temperature then cooling
(Bowman B. and Lefrank P. 1998).
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Modern steel making

There is a several ways to make a steel:
1. Wootz steel and domascus way
2. Besemers way
3. Simmens-Martins way

Wootz steel and domascus way

Evidence of the earliest production of high carbon steel in the Indian Subcontinent
was found in Samanalawewa area in Sri Lanka. Wootz steel was produced in India by about
300 BC. Along with their original methods of forging steel, the Chinese had also adopted the
production methods of creating Wootz steel, an idea imported into China from India by the
5th century AD (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2005). In Sri Lanka, this early steel-making
method employed the unique use of a wind furnace, blown by the monsoon winds, that was
capable of producing high-carbon steel. Also known as Damascus steel, wootz is famous for
its durability and ability to hold an edge. It was originally created from a number of different
materials including various trace elements. It was essentially a complicated alloy with iron as
its main component. Recent studies have suggested that carbon nanotubes were included in
its structure (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2005), which might explain some of its legendary
qualities, though given the technology available at that time, they were produced by chance
rather than by design. Natural wind was used where the soil containing iron was heated up
with the use of wood. The ancient Sinhalese managed to extract a ton of steel for every 2 tons
of soil[citation needed], a remarkable feat at the time. One such furnace was found in
Samanalawewa and archaeologists were able to produce steel as the ancients did long ago
(Encyclopedia Britannica, 2005).
Crucible steel, formed by slowly heating and cooling pure iron and carbon (typically in the
form of charcoal) in a crucible, was produced in Merv by the 9th to 10th century AD. In the
11th century, there is evidence of the production of steel in Song China using two techniques:
a "berganesque" method that produced inferior, inhomogeneous steel and a precursor to the
modern Bessemer process that utilized partial decarbonization via repeated forging under a
cold blast (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2005).

Bessemer converter
Since the 17th century the first step in European steel production has been the
smelting of iron ore into pig iron in a blast furnace. Originally using charcoal, modern
methods use coke, which has proven to be a great deal cheaper (Encyclopedia Britannica,
2005).
In these processes pig iron was "fined" in a finery forge to produce bar iron (wrought iron),
which was then used in steel-making. The production of steel by the cementation process was
described in a treatise published in Prague in 1574 and was in use in Nuremberg from 1601.
A similar process for case hardening armour and files was described in a book published in
Naples in 1589 (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2005).
The process was introduced to England in about 1614. It was produced by Sir Basil Brooke at
Coalbrookdale during the 1610s. The raw material for this were bars of wrought iron
(Encyclopedia Britannica, 2005).
During the 17th century it was realised that the best steel came from oregrounds iron from a
region of Sweden, north of Stockholm. This was still the usual raw material in the 19th
century, almost as long as the process was used. Crucible steel is steel that has been melted in
a crucible rather than being forged, with the result that it is more homogeneous. Most
previous furnaces could not reach high enough temperatures to melt the steel. The early
modern crucible steel industry resulted from the invention of Benjamin Huntsman in the
1740s. Blister steel (made as above) was melted in a crucible or in a furnace, and cast
(usually) into ingots (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2005).

Picture 1. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2005)

Picture 2. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2005)

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Siemens-Martin steel
White-hot steel pouring out of an electric arc furnace. The modern era in steelmaking
began with the introduction of Henry Bessemer's Bessemer process in 1858 (Encyclopedia
Britannica, 2005). His raw material was pig iron. This enabled steel to be produced in large
quantities cheaply, thus mild steel is now used for most purposes for which wrought iron was
formerly used. The Gilchrist-Thomas process (or basic Bessemer process) was an
improvement to the Bessemer process, lining the converter with a basic material to remove
phosphorus (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2005). Another improvement in steelmaking was the
Siemens-Martin process, which complemented the Bessemer process.
These were rendered obsolete by the Linz-Donawitz process of basic oxygen steelmaking
(BOS), developed in the 1950s, and other oxygen steelmaking processes. Basic oxygen
steelmaking is superior to previous steelmaking methods because the oxygen pumped into the
furnace limits impurities (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2005). Now, electric arc furnaces (EAF)
are a common method of reprocessing scrap metal to create new steel. They can also be used
for converting pig iron to steel, but they use a lot of electricity (about 440 kWh per metric
ton), and are thus generally only economical when there is a plentiful supply of cheap
electricity (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2005).

Picture 3. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2005)

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Conclusion
Well, at the end of this seminar work I will tell you that I choose this theme because its very
common in mechanical engineering and we learned some things about Carbon steel, like :
Carbon steel is one of the most important steel in The World.
Carbon steel is: Steel that is considered to be carbon steel when no minimum content is
specified or required for chromium, cobalt, molibdenum, nickl, niobium, titanium, tungsten,
vanadium or zirconium, or any other element to be added to obtain a desired alloying effect.
This steel is broken down in to five classes based on carbon content, and there is a several
ways to make a steel, etc.

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Literature:
- Amsterdam University (2010), Huge archive of steels, Amsterdam
- Bowman B. and Lefrank P. (1998), Electric Furnace Steelmaking,
The AISE Steel Foundation, Pittsburgh
- Encyclopedia Britannica (2005), Simmens-Martins process 2,
Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. , Chicago
- Encyclopedia Britannica (2005), Bessemer process 2,
Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. , Chicago

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