UniversitiTunku Abdul Rahman

Faculty Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and

Science
Department: Department of Mechanical and Materials
Engineering
Unit Code and Name UEME 2133 Engineering Materials
Experiment No.: 1
Title of Experiment: Annealing Test
Laboratory Room No. and Name: KB729 Applied Mechanic Lab,
KB725 Furnace Room
KB732 Microscopy Lab
Experiment Duration (hour): 3 hours
Number of Student per Group 5 students x 1 (5 students per session)

Practical General Requirements:

1. Individual Report. One PRINTED report (double sided printing) for each student is
compulsory

2. The report should include the following outlines: (i) Title, (ii) Introduction, (iii)
Objective, (iv) Experimental Apparatus, Materials and Procedures, (v) Results and
Discussion, (vi) Conclusion, and (vii) References.

3. Report submissions must be computer typed and printed on white A4 size paper. Font size:
12; Font type: Time News Romans; Line spacing: 1.5 lines; Margin: Top, Bottom, Left&
Right: 1.5 cm. Maximum pages: 15 pages including Appendix.

4. Report must be submitted within TWO weeks after conducting the laboratories. Late
submission will not be accepted except for legitimate reason submitted prior to due date.

Objective

To investigate the effect of annealing time on the hardness of a carbon steel and an alloy steel

Introduction

Hardenability is the ability of an alloy to be hardened by the formation of martensite as a

result of a given heat treatment. It is a qualitative measure of the rate at which hardness
increases with heating time in the furnace.

With the annealing test, except for alloy composition, a disc specimen is austenitized at
different times in the furnace (10 and 20 minutes) and upon removal from the furnace, the
disc will be immediately dipped into the water at room temperature. The cooling rate is a
maximum. The softer pearlite transforming into austenite are freezed when the sample is
quenched. The hardness is increased with the amount of austenite structure in the steel.

A steel alloy that is highly hardenable will require longer time to transform from pearlite
into austenite. The presence of nickel, chromium, and molybdenum in the alloy steels delay
the pearlite-to-austenite reactions, thus less martensite is formed for a particular temperature.

Equipment and Materials

Item Description
Furnace
Rockwell Hardness Tester
Grinder/Polisher Machine
Metallurgical Microscope
Sand paper (4 grade)
Carbon steels AISI 1191
Alloy steels AISI 7225
Etchant solution (Ethanol 97ml + Nitric
Acid 3ml)
Quantity estimation
*Item category (e.g. per set/group of student)
E 1
E 1
E 1
E 1
C 6 each
SP 3
SP 3
C 1

*Item category
SP Sample or specimen
C Consumable
CH Chemical
W Labware, glassware, tool, and
components
E Equipment
S Software

DESCRIPTION OF APPARATUS

Furnace

Operation Principles

The furnace chamber incorporates a heating element that is embedded into the side walls and
top and back of heating chamber. The ceramic fiber oval muffle with four heating surfaces
creates even heat distribution within the chamber. The temperature is controlled by a
microprocessor controller with a type K Chromel/Alumel thermocouple. A fan is provided in
the furnace to provide forced air cooling for the temperature controller. A door safety switch
removes power to the heating elements whenever the furnace door is opened.
The Microprocessor Controller

The single setpoint controller provides a single digital display to indicate the current chamber
temperature or setpoint temperature. When the controller is turned ON, it will perform a short
self-test and then display the furnace temperature. To view the setpoint temperature, press
and release the UP or DOWN button. Setpoint temperature can be changed by
continue pressing until the desired setpoint temperature is displayed and then release the
button. A few seconds after the button is released, the controller will accept the new
value and revert to display the furnace temperature.

Caution Statement

Be sure ambient temperature does not exceed 40C. Ambient above this level may result in
damage to the controller. Allow at least six inches of space between the furnace and any
combustible surface. This permits the heat from the surface case to escape so as not to create
a possible fire hazard.

Do not use in the presence of flammable or combustible chemicals. Fire or explosion

may result; this device contains components that may ignite such materials.

To avoid burns, this furnace must not be touched on the exterior or interior furnace surfaces
during use or for a period of time after use.

Rockwell Hardness Tester

The Rockwell Hardness Scale of HRC is used. For HRC, a diamond cone indenter and
a major load of 150 kg are used. A V-block is used for mounting of the specimens which are
of cylindrical shape.

Procedure

1. Set the furnace temperature to 900C and heat it up.

 2. Put all 4 steel specimens into the furnace once the temperature stabilized at 900C.

3. Spare a specimen for zero hour as a comparison.

4. Make sure that the furnace door is properly closed.

5. After 10 minutes, take out the 1 st sample for both composition and quench them
in the water.

6. Once the samples are cold. Grind and polish the sample until it is clean and flat.

7. Perform Rockwell hardness test on the polished surface randomly.

8. The samples will then dip into the etchant solution (Ethanol 97ml + Nitric Acid 3ml)
for ~10-15 seconds before micrographic is taken.

9. Repeat the procedure Step 1 8 for annealing time of 20 minutes.

Questions:

1. Discuss the factors that can affect the hardenability of steel.

2. Compare the hardnessof carbon steel and alloy steelat different annealing time
3. Discuss the hardness in both the metalsbased on the iron-carbon phase diagram
4. Analyze the micrographs and relate them to the hardness graph
5. Identify the possible source(s) of error in the experiment and propose how the error can
be minimized to improve the accuracy of the experimental result