PAST QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 2012-2013:

I. True or False
1. F The solute concentration is lower in those regions that solidify last in a casting.
2. T Strengthening of alloys in precipitation hardening is believed due to coherent precipitates
capable of being sheared by matrix dislocations.
3. F The higher the working stress though below the elastic limit, the bigger the relative size of the
fatigue zone in fatigue failure.
4. T The higher the temperature and the higher the stress, the faster the creep rate.
5. T Without the surface indentation which served as a stress raiser in a normally ductile material, it
would not have fracture in a brittle manner.
6. T The degree of supercooling is lesser in heterogenous than homogenous nucleation.
7. F The low expenditure of energy in a brittle fracture results to a pronounced macroscopic gross
plastic deformation.
8. T In precipitation hardening, hardness increases with time during the solution treatment.
9. T For materials loaded in tension, a tensile residual stress is far detrimental compared to
compressive critical radius.
10. T In a vapor to liquid transformation, the maximum free energy of the liquid droplet occurs at the
critical radius.
11. T The structure of martensite is closer to ferrite than austenite.
12. F Steel of high hardenability is suitable for welding.
13. F A normalized pearlitic structure has a lower hardness than a spheroidized carbide structure.
14. F Cobalt is added to steel to increase hardenability.
15. T The resulting structure of austempering is bainite.
16. T Process annealing of steels is done below the eutectoid temperature.
17. F The quenched structure of martensite is closer to the tetragonal rep. of aus. than ferrite.
18. F The coarse aus. grain size is recommended to inc. hardenability
19. T The higher the carbon content of mart., the higher the hardness.
20. T As long as the cooling rate is slower than the critical, a certain amount of pearlite is always
produced.
21. T Agitation inc. severity of the quench
22. F An inc. conc. Of any alloying element dec. the pearlite interlamellae spacing.
23. T The addition of alloying elements would achieve hardening with a less rapid quench
24. F Partition of alloying elements in pearlitic growth is favored by a large supercoiling.
II. Multiple Choice
1. Which is a characteristic of a precipitation hardenable alloy?
a. Precipitates impenetrable by matrix dislocations
b. Solvus line indicating partial solubility which is decreasing with decreasing temperature
c. Strength is increased by cold working
d. All of the above
2. The temperature in which freezing is completed under non-equilibrium conditions.
a. Same as equilibrium conditions
b. Higher than equilibrium condition
c. Lower than equilibrium conditions
d. Constant from start to completion of freezing
3. An iron aluminum specimen fracture along the grain boundaries without microvoid
coalescence, what is the fracture mechanism?
a. Ductile transgranular
b. Brittle transgranular
c. Ductile intergranular
d. Brittle intergranular
4. A nucleus is considered stable and capable of growing because
a. Its free energy decreases as it further grows
b. Its size is at least equal to the critical radius
c. The negative volume energy is greater than the positive surface energy
d. All of the above
5. An instantaneous failure mode
a. Fatigue
b. Creep
c. Ductile

d. None of the above

6. Aluminum alloy rivets for use in the aircraft industry are stored in deep freeze
refrigerators
a. For solution treatment
b. To attain maximum hardening
c. To prevent hardening
d. Just for temporary safekeeping
7. The initiation zone of a fatigue fracture
a. Characterized by an overload fracture surface
b. Its local stress is above the yield stress
c. Characterized by the presence of beach marks
d. All of the above
8. Temperature inversion during freezing is characterized as
a. Release of heat of fusion at the interface
b. Temperature decreases in a direction away from the interface
c. Dendrites should forward in advance of the interface
d. All of the above
9. Strain energy in solid solid transformation
a. Function of the surface area of the solid precipitate
b. Increases with decreasing lattice mismatch between precipitate and matrix
c. Strains both the precipitate and matrix, thus, opposing the formation of a solid nucleus
d. None of the above
10. Factors simultaneously present in low carbon fine-grained steels to cause brittle instead
of a ductile fracture.
a. Low temperature
b. Stress concentration due to manufacturing defects and service conditions
c. A relatively high tensile stress to cause microscopic plastic deformation
d. All of the above
11. The crystal structure of martensite
a. FCC
b. BCC
c. BCT
d. Orthorhombic
12. Surface tensile stresses lead to quench cracking due to
a. Carbon diffusion in the austenite to martensite transformation
b. Thermal contraction prevailing over martensitic expansion at the surface
c. Martensitic expansion prevailing over thermal contraction in the interior
d. None of the above
13. The stress below which no matter how many times the working stress is applied does
not result to failure
a. Fatigue limit
b. Fatigue strength
c. Maximum stress
d. None of the above
14. Which is not hardening by diffusion treatment?
a. Carburizing
b. Carbonitriding
c. Nitriding
d. Full annealing
15. Increasing the carbon content of steels
a. Lowers the Ms
b. Lowers the Mf
c. Increases hardness
d. All of the above
16. Which is not a heat treatment intended for softening?
a. Spheroidizing
b. Process annealing
c. Flame hardening
d. None of the above
17. Critical diameter is a function of

a. steel composition
b. austenitic grain size
c. severity of the quench
d. all of the above
19. Tempered martensite has a structure of
a. cementite spheroids in a matrix of ferrite
b. martensite spheroids
c. pearlite with a proeutectiod constituent depending on the carbon content
d. none of the above
21. Much larger pearlite nodules form just below the eutectoid temp. bec. of a
a. relatively high nucleation rate
b. max. growth rate
c. relatively low nucleation rate
d. either of the above
22. For steels, continuous cooling is characterized as
a. pearlite transformation faster than isothermal cooling
b. no bainite is formed for the slowest cooling rate
c. a negligible amount of pearlite is formed for the most rapid cooling rate
d. none of the above
23. The most severe quenchant
a. Oil
b. water
c. brine
d. neither of the above
24. for a hypo eutectoid steel, non equilibrium cooling results to the ff.
a. carbon content of pearlite lowered
b. amount of the pro eutectoid ferrite is suppressed
c. at room temp. two constituent are present
d. all of the above
25. The austenite to martensite transformation
a. goes to completion at room temperature regardless of composition
b. athermal and diffusionless
c. the c-axis decreases with inc. carbon content
d. all of the above
1
a
b
c
d
2
a
b
c
d
3
a
b
c
d
1
a
b
c
d
2
a
b
c
d
3
a

An iron aluminum specimen fracture along the grain boundaries without microvoid
coalescence, what is the fracture mechanism?
Ductile transgranular
Brittle transgranular
Ductile intergranular
Brittle intergranular
An instantaneous failure mode
Fatigue
Creep
Ductile
None of the above
The initiation zone of a fatigue fracture
Characterized by an overload fracture surface
Its local stress is above the yield stress
Characterized by the presence of beach marks
All of the above
A proeutectoid nucleus grows in the direction of
Both adjacent austenite grains
The austenite grain defining the habit plane
The other austenite grain with the non-coherent high energy boundary
None of the above
The phase transformation when austenite transforms to ferrite and cementite
Eutectic
Eutectoid
Peritectic
None of the above
In what type of steel is the carbon content of austenite enriched upon cooling
Eutectoid

b
c
d
4
a
b
c
d
5
a
b
c
d
6
a
b
c
d
7
a
b
c
d

Hypoeutectoid
Hypereutectoid
All of the above
After the quench in precipitation hardening, the alloy is
Supersaturated with solute
Supersaturated with vacancies
Precipitates do not form yet
All of the above
In order to minimize the strain energy, an incoherent nucleus blablabla the shape of a
Needle
Sphere
Disk
Any shape
Near the transformation temperature, the nucleation current is controlled by
Rate of jumping of atoms towards the nucleus
Energy barrier to form the nucleus
No. of embryos at the transformation temperature
All of the above
Consider the interference of adjacent growing precipitate particles, it is characterized
by
Fall of solute concentration in the matrix far away from the particles
Concentration gradient adjacent to the particles remain the same
Growth of precipitates increase with time
All of the above

III. Fill in the blanks (20 points)

1. Low Temperature- Temperature at which steels pass from ductile to brittle fracture.
2. Annealing- Heat treatment to remove segregation or differences in solute concentration in a single phase cored casting.
3. Creep-Occurs under sustained loading at a constant temperature above one half of the melting point in
0K.
4. Fatigue Limit- The stress below which the life of a fatigue specimen seems to become infinite.
5. Coring- A very narrow zone of constitutional supercooling (microsegregation) as a result of a stable
interface movement.
6. Blowholes- Spherical bubbles trapped inside the casting.
7. Plastic Strain- The strain prior to primary creep in a creep curve.
8. Grain Boundary- Type of boundary between precipitate and matrix which contains dislocations to
counteract the elastic strains.
9. Incubation Period- The period before actual precipitation starts in precipitation hardening.
10. Heterogeneous Nucleation- Type of nucleation due to the presence of accidental impurity particles
such as occurring at the mold surfaces.
11. Incubation Period- The period before actual precipitation starts
12. 6.7 % - Carbon content of cementite
13. Pearlite - Alternating lamellae of ferrite and cementite
14. Martensite- Transformation product of austenite after a water quench
15. Age Hardening- Another name for precipitation hardening
16. Guinier-Prestonor GP zones- Form in the initial development of the precipitates involving the local
clustering of solute atoms.
17. Growth- Occurs after a group of atoms has exceeded the critical size and becomes a stable nucleus
18. volmer-weber theory- The theory relating the number of embryos to the number of atoms in an
embryo in the supersaturated condition.
19. diffusion-controlled growth- Type of growth dependent on the migration of solute atoms from the
matrix to the precipitate
20. Interface controlled growth- Type of growth dependent on the ability of solute atoms to cross over
from the matrix to the precipitate.
21.high speed steels - type of steals which undergo secondary hardening due to carbide forming
elements
22.50% martensite and 50% pearlite - the microstructure used as a criterion for hardenability
23.n=2^N-1 - equation for grain size number

24.hadfield Mn steel a very tough, hard and abrasion-resistant metal for buckets and teeth of power
shovels
25.Mgo Temperature which indicate 90% of martensitic transformation
26.bainite Microstructure in steels which forms above the Ms temperature
27.c-65 Rockwell hardness of 100% martensite
28.ideal critical diameter Hardenability depth referred to hypothetical cooling medium
29.cobalt The only alloying element added to steel known to decrease hardenability
30.0.4%C The minimum amount of carbon needed for a marked degree of hardening

IV. Matching Type

1. Titanium alloys - Find applications requiring high strength-to-weight ratio
2. Solution heat treatment - Another term for precipitation hardening often employed with aluminum
alloys
3. Process annealing - HT to restore ductility of a material while being worked at
4. Cyaniding - HT involving carbon and nitrogen diffusion into the surface layer of steel conducted in a
liquid salt bath
5. Carbonitriding - HT involving the simultaneous absorption of carbon and nitrogen for steels heated in
a gaseous atmosphere
6. Carburizing - HT to increase surface hardness of low carbon steels by carbon diffusion followed by
quenching and tempering
7. Hadfield manganese steels - Type of steels which undergo secondary hardening due to carbide
forming element
8. High speed steels - A very tough, hard and abrasion-resistant metal for buckets and teeth of power
shovels
9. Creep - Occurs under sustained loading particularly at high temperatures
10. Overload zone - Instantaneous failure in fatigue fracture
V. Essay
1. At the microscopic level, briefly discuss the mechanisms of ductile fracture (10 points).
2. In a recent warehouse fire, a shipment of aircraft rivets was subjected to heat which was intense enough
to overage the rivets but not intense enough to affect their size, shape or appearance. The quality control
engineer of the aircraft manufacturer rejected the rivets for use. If you were their metallurgical engineer
and the president of the firm asked you to comment, would you consider the rivets scrapped? Is there an
alternative? (20 points)
3. Why is there a need for tempering? Discuss the effect of temperature and time on the properties of
tempered steels? (10 points)
4. What is the common principle behind flame induction and laser and electron beam hardening? Would
you recommend a 0.1% C iron-carbon alloy to be subjected to either type of heat treatment? (10 points)
5. The continuous transformation diagram for a 1.13 wt. % C iron-carbon alloy is shown below. Redrawn in
your test booklet, sketch and label the continuous cooling to yield the following microstructures: (10
points)
a. Fine pearlite and proeutectoid cementite
b. Martensite
c. Martensite and proeutectoid cementite
d. Coarse pearlite and proeutectoid cementite
e. Martensite, fine pearlite and proeutectoid cementite
6. With the aid of appropriate diagram(s), explain that for solid state reactions the elastic strain energy
makes nucleation more difficult.
7. In a recent warehouse fire, a shipment aircraft rivets was subjected to heat which was intense enough to
overage the rivets but not intense enough to affect their size, shape or appearance. The quality control

engineer of the aircraft manufacturer rejected the rivets for use. If you were their metallurgical engineer
and the president of the firm asked you to comment, would you consider the rivets scrapped? Is there an
alternative?
8. Given hypoeutectoid steel (0.4 % C) to undergo equilibrium cooling, what phases, composition, and
amount of each phase would exist slightly above and below the eutectoid temperature? After cooling to
room temperature, what constituents are found in the structure? Give the amounts and compositions of
each; also, indicate the amount of proeutectoid and eutectoid ferrite.