FERROUS ALLOYS

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 TYPES OF METAL ALLOYS
 Metals and alloys have many useful
engineering properties and so have wide
application in engineering design.
 Iron and its alloys (principally
steel) account for about 90 percent
of the world’s production of metals
mainly because of their combination
of good strength, toughness, and
ductility at a relatively low cost.

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 FERROUS ALLOYS
 Iron is the main constituent in ferrous alloys.
 They are produced in larger quantities than other metals.
 Their widespread use is accounted for by three factors:
 Iron-containing compounds exist in abundant quantities within the
earth’s crust.
 Ferrous alloys may be produced using relatively economical
extraction, refining, alloying and fabrication techniques.
 Ferrous alloys have a wide range of mechanical and physical
properties.
 The ferrous materials are divided into two groups according to the carbon
content:
 The ferrous materials with carbon content higher than 2% are
called as cast irons, and those with carbon content less than 2% as
steels.

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 Production of Ferrous Alloys
All ferrous materials begin in a blast furnace where iron ore, limestone and coke(a form of carbon)
react to form PIG IRON.

Iron ores:
 HEMATITE: Fe2O3 contains 70% Fe The most important iron ore.
 MAGNETITE:Fe3O4 contains 72,4% Fe

Coke has a dual role:

 It is a fuel for the blast furnace.
 It is also a reducing agent.
 The coke is burned using a blast of air (sometime enriched
with oxygen).The coke reduces the iron oxide into a molten
Vol.
iron known as pig iron.
~2000 m3
 Carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are
produced as gaseous by-products.
 Limestone (CaCO3) is added as a fluxing agent to help
removing impurities. The limestone decomposes and forms
~ 40 m

CaO. The calcium oxide combine with impurities such as

~ 1800°C slag silica (SiO2, sulfur (S), and alumina (Al2O3 )to produce
molten slag.
 Slag is a by-product of the blast furnace process.
~ 1000°C ~ 10 m  The slag floats on top of the molten iron, because it is
lighter. The slag are withdrawn off the top of the molten iron.

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 Reactions in the Blast Furnace
 Heat generation:
C+O2 CO2

 Reduction of iron ore to pig iron:

CO2+C 2 CO
CO+Fe2O3 2 FeO+CO2
FeO+CO Fe+CO2

 Purification:
 Decomposition of fluxing agent:
CaCO3 CaO+CO2

 Forming of slag:
CaO+SiO2 CaSiO3 (Molten slag: calcium silicate)
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  Pig iron contains about 95% iron, 4% carbon, 0.3 to 0.9% silicon, 0.5% Mn, and 0.025 to
0.05% of sulfur, phosphorus, and titanium, at about 16000C. Further refinement of the pig
iron is required for both cast iron and steel

 Pig iron is either used to produce cast iron or converted into steel in secondary
processes.
 STEELMAKİNG:

 Oxygen is blown into the liquid pig iron in the

converter (BOF: Basic Oxygen Furnace: steel
making furnace) to eliminate the excess carbon
content up to a maximum of 2% (for practical
applications 1.4%).

 In the converter, in addition to pig iron, scrap and

limestone are added. Limestone is added to
collect impurities such as P, S in slag form.

 When the refining process is completed, the oxygen is

shut off and the furnace is tilted to remove the slag.

 Necessary alloying elements are also added.

 Steel processing occurs at a very large scale. About

300 tons of pig iron can be refined into molten steel
in about 30 minutes.

 We can melt pig iron again in another furnace called

cupola to produce cast iron. In cupola, pig irons
are remelted with more coke and limestone and 7
tap it out into moulds.
 SLAB, BLOOM, BİLLET
 Cast steel ingots(1-300 tons) are rolled into slabs, blooms, and billets, which are latter further
rolled, extruded, or drawn to different shapes and marketed as engineering materials.

A bloom has a square cross

section 150x150mm or larger.

 A slab is rolled from a bloom

and has a rectangular cross
section of width 250 mm or
more thickness 40 mm or more.
 A billet is rolled from a bloom
and is square with dimensions Semi-finished products
40 mm on a side or larger. Flat products
 Finished steel products
obtained upon hot rolling or hot
forging of semi-finished steels
(bloom, billet, slab).

These cover two broad

categories of products, namely
long products (bars, rods) and Long products
flat products (plate sheet, strip).
Some of the steel products made in a rolling mill

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 STEELS
 Steels are very versatile materials. Steels of low strength and super strength, soft and
hard steels, ferromagnetic and paramagnetic steels, steels to resist temperature extremes,
corrosion, impact, abrasion, and so on.
 Steels can be classified based on their composition:
 Plain carbon steels contain up to about 2% carbon. However, it is generally less than
1.0 wt%. These steels may also contain other elements, such as Mn (up to 1.65%), Si
(max. 0.6%), Cu (up to 0.6%), and residual amounts of S, P (less than 0.05%).
 Alloy steels contain more than 1.65%Mn, 0.60%Si, or 0.60 Cu. In addition, any steel
to which any other alloying element (such as Ni, Cr, Mo, Ti, etc.) is intentionally added is
considered an alloy steel.
 However, the term of “alloy steel” is used for steels which contain modest amount of
alloying elements and rely on heat treatment to improve the desired mechanical properties.
 These steels are used for making tools (hammers, chisels, etc.) and also in making parts
such as axles, shafts, and gears.
 The total carbon content is up to 1% in alloy steels.
 For the low alloy steels, the total alloying element content is below 5%.

chisel
gear
hammer
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 LOW CARBON STEELS (< 0.25 wt% C)
 Low-carbon steels generally contain less than about 0.25 wt % C.
 They are unresponsive to heat treatments intended to form martensite. Strengthening is
accomplished by cold work.
 They have relatively low strengths but very high ductilities and toughnesses.
 In addition, they are machinable, weldable, of all steels, are the least expensive to produce.
 These steels are used for sheet material for forming applications for fenders and body
panels for automobiles.
 Other typical applications include structural shapes (I-beams, channel and angle iron), and
sheets that are used in pipelines, building, bridges, and tin cans.
 They have a yield strength of 275 MPa, tensile strengths between 415 and 550 MPa, and
ductility of 25% EL(elongation).

angle iron

fender
I-beams tin can
body panels for automobiles channel

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 HIGH_STRENGTH, LOW ALLOY (HSLA) Steels

 HSLA steels are developed to replace conventional low carbon steels.

 They have low carbon contents plus relatively small amounts of alloying
elements such as Mn, Ni,Cu, Cr, Mo (3% total of these elements)

 They have better strength to weight ratios than plain carbon steels.

 in addition, they are ductile, formable and machinable and weldable.

 In normal atmospheres, the HSLA steels are more resistant to corrosion

than the plain carbon steels, which they have replaced in many applications
where structural strength is critical (e.g., bridges, towers, support columns in
high-rise buildings, and pressure vessels).

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 MEDIUM CARBON STEELS (0.25-0.60 wt% C)
 The medium-carbon steels contain 0.25 to 0.60% carbon.
 Their mechanical properties can be improved by heat treatments.
 The plain medium-carbon steels have low hardenabilities (Hardenability is a qualitative measure
of the rate at which hardness drops off with distance into the interior of a specimen as a result of diminished martensite
content. Hardenability is not hardness, which is the resistance to indentation).
 Additions of chromium, nickel, and molybdenum improve the capacity of these alloy to be
heat treated.
 These steels are used in making machinery, tractors, mining equipments, railway wheels
and tracks, gears, crankshafts, and other machine parts.

HIGH CARBON STEELS (0.60-1.4 wt% C)

 The high carbon steels normally have carbon contents between 0.6 and 1.4 wt%.
 They are the hardest, strongest, and yet least ductile of the carbon steels.
 They are almost always used in a hardened and tempered condition.
 The tool and carbon die steels, cutters, springs are high alloys.
 They usually contain chromium, vanadium, tungsten, and molybdenum. These elements
combine with carbon to form very hard and wear-resistant carbide compounds (e.g.,
Cr23C6, V4C, and WC).

 Increasing carbon content strengthens and hardens the steel, but its ductility is reduced.
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 STAINLESS STEELS
 The stainless steels have excellent corrosion (rusting) resistance in many
environments, especially the ambient atmosphere.
 The corrosion resistance of stainless steels is due to their high Cr contents.
 In order to make a “stainless steel” stainless, there must be at least 11% Cr
in the steel.
 Cr permits a thin protective surface layer of chromium oxide to form when
the steel is exposed to oxygen. This surface oxide protects the underlying Fe-Cr
alloy from corroding.
 Corrosion resistance may also be enhanced by Ni and Mo additions. Ni is
added for heat resistant applications (Ni≥8%).
 Generally stainless steels contain very low carbon (C≤0.15%).
Increasing the carbon content decreases the corrosion resistance of the alloy.
Because chromium carbide forms to reduce the amount of free Cr available in
the alloy.

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 STAINLESS STEELS
Stainless Steels (related to their microstructure)

Ferritic Stainless Martensitic Stainless Austenitic Stainless

Steels (FSS) Steels (MSS) Steels (ASS)

 Martensitic stainless steels are strengthened by heat treatment.(its carbon

content is high) They are strong and hard. But they are the least corrosion
resistant of the three groups.
 For ASSs , the austenite phase field is extended to room temperature.
 FSSs are composed of α-ferrite (BCC phase).
 ASSs and FSSs are hardened and strengthened by cold work because they
are not heat treatable.(their carbon content low)
 The ASSs are the most corrosion resistant because of the high chromium
contents and also the nickel additions. So, they are very common.They are
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identified as 18-8 stainless steel.
 Speciality Steels
• Maraging steels: They have low carbon content and high amounts of nickel (15% to
25%) and lesser proportions of cobalt, molybdenum and titanium. They are
strengthened by precipitation hardening. They have very high strength as a result of
martensitic transformation and following aging treatment with good toughness. They
are formable, weldable, machinable.

• Free-machining steels: They are formulated to improve machinability. Lead, sulfur,

tin, bismuth, selenium, tellurium, phosphorus are added in small amounts to increase
machinability. Lead is less frequently used today because of enviromental and health
concerns. These elements act to lubricate the cutting operation, reduce friction, and
break up chips for easier disposal.

• Interstitial-free (IF) steels : These steels have extremely low carbon levels
(0.005%), which result from the use of alloying elements such as niobium and
titanium that combine with carbon and leave the steel virtually free of interstitial
atoms. The result is excellent ductility, even greater than low carbon steel.
Applications include deep drawing operations in the automotive industry.

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 DESIGNATION(CODING) OF STEELS
 Steels are specified in many ways. TSE (Turkish Standards Institution), AISI
(American Iron and Steel Institute), SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers),
ASTM (The American Society for Testing and Materials), DIN (The German
Institute for Standardization), etc.
AMERICAN STANDARTS
 AISI and SAE specifications: This designation systems has four-digit
numbers. (If the carbon concentration is higher than 1%, the number of digits is
five.)
 The first two digits (or numbers) refer to the major alloying elements, and the
last two numbers indicate the weight % carbon concentration multiplied by 100.

Main group
of the steel XXXX
Carbon content % x
Alloy content 100
(major alloying
elements)
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 DESIGNATION OF STEELS
 For plain carbon steels, the first two digits are 1 and 0.
An AISI 1040 steel is a plain carbon steel with 0.4% C.
An SAE 10120 steel is a plain-carbon steel containing 1.2% C.
 Alloy steels are designated by other initial two-digit combinations (such as
12, 43, 86).
An AISI 4340 steel is an alloy steel containing 0.4% C.
 One digit in the systems of a five digit sometimes may be an alphabetical
character. Then, only last two characters indicate the carbon content again. The
alphabetical character refers to an additional element.

Free machining steels are developed

Free
for fast and economic machining of parts.
machining 12L10
steel Machinability is improved by addition of
0.1% C elements such as Pb, S, S-P (these are cheap),
Lead addition and Te, Se and Bi (expensive, but effective).

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 DESIGNATION OF STEELS
AISI/SAE Designation Systems (for plain and low-alloy steels)
AISI number
 1XXX carbon steels
10XX plain carbon steels
11XX free machining steels with sulfur (resulfurized)
12XX free machining steels with sufur and phosphorus (resulfurized and rephosphorized)
 12LXX free machining steels with sufur and phosphorus by lead addition (Lead: Insoluble in steel. It is
added for machinability)
13XX manganese
 2XXX Nickel steels***
 3XXX Nickel-chromium steels***
 4XXX Molybdenum steels
41XX Cr-Mo steels (or shortly chromoly steels)
43XX Cr-Ni-Mo steels (≈1.75%Ni)
 5XXX Chromium steels***
 6XXX Chromium-Vanadium steels***
 7XXX Tungsten steels***
 8XXX Cr-Ni-Mo steels
86XX (0.40-0.70%Ni)
9XXX Si-Mn steels***

*** PLEASE DO NOT MEMORIZE marked designations!!!

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AISI/SAE Designations for TOOL STEELS
AISI number
 W (Water hardening)
 O (Oil hardening)
 D (heavy Duty, air) Die steels used for cold working operations
 A (Air hardening)
 M, T (high speed) they are used as cutting tools in machining operations (Mo, Tungsten)
 S (Shock resisting) they are used in punching, bending operations.
 Applications: Cutting tools, dies, knives, razors, hacksaw blades, springs, high-strength wires etc.

AISI/SAE Designations for STAINLESS STEELS

AISI number
 Martensitic stainless steel
 410 (0.15C, 12.5Cr, 1.0Mn, 0.8Ni, 1.0Si), Applications: cutlery, surgical instrument
 Austenitic stainless steel
 304 (0.08C, 19Cr, 9Ni, 2.0Mn, 0.75Si), Applications: Chemical and food processing equipment,
cryogenic vessels.
 316 L (0.03C, 17Cr, 12Ni, 2.5Mo,2.0Mn, 0.75Si), Applications: Welding construction
 304L (0.03C, …..) , 316 (0.08C…….), etc. L means LOW CARBON!!!
 Ferritic stainless steel
 430 (0.12 C, 17Cr, 0.75 Ni, 1Mn, 1 Si)

*** PLEASE DO NOT MEMORIZE compositions!!! 19

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Please don’t memorize compositions….
 TURKISH/GERMAN STANDARTS
a) Plain Carbon Steels:

Plain carbon steel C35 C % content x100

C45 : Plain Carbon steel. It contains 0.45% C

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 TURKISH/GERMAN STANDARTS
b) Low Alloy Steel:

% of the highest
C % content x 100
content element x MF

Alloying element ordered with

respect to amount

ELEMENTS Multiplication Number (MF)

Cr, Mn, Ni, Si, Al, Mo, Nb, W 4

V, Zr 10
C, P, S, N, Ce 100
B 1000
No number if concentration is less than 1%

Ex: 15 Cr Mo 5 : It contains 0.15%C

It contains Cr and Mo.
Cr is the main alloying elements. (Its content is the highest)
It contains 1.25 % Cr (Cr %= 5/4= 1.25)
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 TURKISH/GERMAN STANDARTS
c) Free Cutting Steels:

C % content x100 S % multiplied

S by 100

Free Cutting steel

Alloying element other than
C and S

Ex: 22 S MnPb 36: It contains 0.22 % C.

It has Mn and Pb and it contains 0.36 % S.

Ex: 22 S 20 : It contains 0.22 % C and 0.2 S.

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 TURKISH/GERMAN STANDARTS
d) Alloy steel: If total alloying element is higher than 5%.

% Alloying elements
X without factors
High alloy
steel

C % content x100
Alloying elements
other than C

Ex: X 50 CrMoW 9 1 1: It is a high alloy steel. It has 0.5% C

Main alloying elements Cr,Mo,W.
It has 9% Cr, 1% Mo, 1% W.

Ex: X 5 CrNiTi 18 9 : It is a high alloy steel. It has 0.05% C.

Main alloying elements Cr, Ni,Ti.
It has 18% Cr, 9 % Ni, less than 1% Ti
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 CAST IRONS
 Cast irons are a class of ferrous alloys with carbon contents above 2.14 wt%.
 However, most cast irons contain between 3.0 and 4.5 wt% C and, in addition,
other alloying elements, 1-3 wt% Si, Mn, etc.
 Cast irons are easily melted because of their lower melting temperatures (1150-
13000C) than for steels, and amenable to casting.
 They have a wide range of strength and hardness and in most cases can be
machined easily.
 They have relatively low impact resistance and ductility for some applications.
 They are common due to their comparatively low cost.
 The most common cast iron types:

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Gray Iron Ferrite
 Gray cast irons usually contain 2.5 to 4 wt% C matrix.
and 1-3 wt% Si. (Depending
on heat
 For most of gray cast irons (CIs), carbon exist treatment,
as graphite flakes. it may be
pearlite.)

Graphite
flakes
 Graphite formation is promoted by the presence of Si (graphite stabilizing element)
in concentrations greater than about 1%.

 Because of the graphite flakes, a fractured surface takes on a gray appearance, hence its name.
 Gray iron is relatively brittle because of graphite flakes. The graphite flakes concentrate stresses
and cause low strength and ductility.
 However, gray iron has a number of attractive properties:
high-compressive strength
good machinability
good resistance to wear and thermal fatigue
good thermal conductivity
good vibration damping.
Typical applications: Diesel engine castings, cylinders, pistons, machine tool bases.
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Ductile (or Nodular) Iron
 Nodular CI contains spheroidal graphite particles. Ferrite
matrix
 Adding a small amount of magnesium to the gray iron
before casting produces a distinctly different
microstructure and set of mechanical properties.

. Graphite
nodules

 The composition of unalloyed ductile CI is similar to that of gray CI with respect to C and Si contents.

 Ductile cast iron has

good castability,
excellent machinability,
good wear resistance.

 In addition, it has a number of properties similar to those of steel such as high strength,
toughness, ductility, hot workability, and hardenability.

Applications: Valves, pump bodies, crank-shafts, gears, and other automotive & machine components.

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White Iron
Pearlite
 It is produced by chilling (sudden cooling).

 For low-Si cast irons (Si<1 wt%) and rapid cooling

rates, most of the carbon exists as cementite (Fe3C)
instead of graphite. Cementite
No graphite formation!!!

A fractured surface of a white iron appears white, hence the name.

Properties:
 White cast iron has extremely hard and very brittle.
 They are unmachinable because of large amounts of the cementite phase.
 They have excellent resistance to wear.
 They also serves as the raw material for malleable cast irons.

Applications: Limited. For example: Rollers and railway brake shoes.

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Malleable Iron
Ferrite
 Malleable iron formed by their heat treatment of white cast
iron, produces rounded clumps of graphite.

Properties:

 Very machinable Graphite

 It exhibits better ductility (up to 20% elongation) than rosettes
gray or white cast irons. (temper carbon)

Typical applications: Pipe fittings and flanges, transmission gears, and so on.

Heat treatment of white irons to produce malleable CIs

a) Graphitization: The white iron is heated about 9000C and held for 3 to 20 hour (in a neutral
atmosphere to prevent oxidation) depending on the size of the castings. In this stage, the iron
carbide of the white iron is transformed to temper carbon( graphite rosettes) and austenite.

b) Cooling: The casting, after the first stage heating, is fast cooled to 7500C and then slowly
cooled at a rate of about 3 to 110C per hour (for ferritic malleable iron).
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Compacted Graphite Iron
 A relatively recent addition to the family of cast irons. Ferrite

 Carbon exits as graphite.

 Si content ranges between 1.7 and 3%, whereas C
concentration is normally between 3.1 and 4%.
 The graphite has a worm-like (or vermicular) shape. The
microstructure is intermediate between that of gray iron and Worm-like
ductile iron. graphite

 The presence of sharp edges of graphite flakes leads to a

reduction in fracture and fatigue resistance of the material.

Properties: Typical applications:

Diesel engine blocks,
 higher thermal conductivity exhaust manifolds, etc.
 better thermal shock resistivity
 lower oxidation at elevated temperatures

Gray and ductile CIs are produced in approximately same amounts; however white
and malleable CIs are produced in smaller quantities.
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