Metal Science and Heat Treatment Vol. 47, Nos.

5 – 6, 2005

UDC 621.785.545

RAPID INDUCTION HEAT TREATMENT OF ARTICLES FROM PLAIN

AND LOW-ALLOY LOW-CARBON AND MEDIUM-CARBON STEELS

N. V. Zimin1 and O. S. Martynov1

Translated from Metallovedenie i Termicheskaya Obrabotka Metallov, No. 6, pp. 20 – 23, June, 2005.

A new method of rapid induction heat treatment (RIHT) of articles and semiproducts from plain and low-alloy
low-carbon and medium-carbon steels is described. The method ensures a high ductility at a strength at least
no lower than the initial one and a high strength at a ductility higher than the initial one. Examples of pipes
from steels 15G2 and 20 are used to show the advantages of the RIHT method over traditional methods of heat
treatment.

INTRODUCTION tubes 32.0 ´ 2.0 mm in diameter from steel 15G2 and

The world production of articles with small cross sec-
tions (sheets, strips, bars, tubes) from plain and low-alloy
low- and medium-carbon steels with initially deformed (tex-
tured) fine-grained (grain size No. 9-10 according to the
GOST 5639–82 standard) structure and banding of less than
two scale divisions of GOST 5640–68 has grown markedly.
Steels with such structure possess enhanced strength
(sr = 700 – 900 MPa).
For articles from such steels to be used efficiently in dif-
ferent industries (metallurgical, machine-building, automo-
tive, constructional, etc.) their ductility should be increased
substantially, which can be ensured by heat treatment. The
required combination of strength and ductility of these steels
delivered in the form of semiproducts and ready articles can
be ensured by many methods of heat hardening, but all of
them are not effective enough and increase the cost of the
products.
VNIITVCh has developed a new efficient method for
rapid induction heat treatment (RIHT) of products and semi-
products from plain and low-alloy low-carbon and me-
dium-carbon steels.
The RIHT technique makes it possible to utilize the pos-
sibilities of induction heating and intense cooling with maxi-
mum fullness and to vary the properties of the treated mate-
rial in a wide range, which is very important for many
branches of industry.
METHODS OF STUDY
The RIHT process was tested and its parameters refined
on the experimental bench of VNIITVCh. We studied
1
V. P. Vologdin VNIITVCh, St. Petersburg, Russia.
36.0 ´ 2.6 mm in diameter from steel 20 (Table 1).
Heating was realized with the help of a generator with
current frequency f = 2.4 kHz with power input W = 40 –
80 kW. The speed of motion of the tubes through the heating
device (inductor) vm = 20 – 50 mm/sec; the speed of rotation
of a tube in the heating process vr = 60 rpm.
The tubes were heated in a single-turn cylindrical induc-
tor at a mean heating rate v hm = 500 – 2000 K/sec and cooled
by a sprayer ensuring the intensity of heat removal
aeq = 10,000 – 40,000 W/(m2 × deg).
The bench was capable of treating tubes from 500 to
3000 mm long. The heating temperature was controlled with
the help of a “Quartz-MA” infrared thermometer at the outlet
of the tube from the inductor and at the inlet to the cooling
chamber. The thermometer measured the temperature in a
range of 600 – 1300°C accurate to 0.8%.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Preliminary experiments showed that the optimum heat-
ing range for RIHT is 650 – 850°C. The process was con-
ducted at a temperature step of every 20 – 30°C in this range.
In every treatment mode we processed several tubes of the
needed size, which were then subjected to tensile mechanical
tests (Fig. 1).
It can be seen from Fig. 1 that RIHT widens substantially
the range of the strength and ductility characteristics at any
studied temperatures of induction heating. The ductility at
every RIHT temperature is higher than after traditional me-
thods of heat hardening (TMHH). The figure also shows that
the dependence of the strength (sr ) and ductility (du ) on the
heating temperature under the conditions of RIHT changes

235
0026-0673/05/0506-0235 © 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.
236 N. V. Zimin and O. S. Martynov

sr , ÌPà
In traditional methods of heat hardening of steel, which
ensure various classes of strength in materials, this coeffi-
1500
cient varies within a wide range but should be combined with
sr enough ductility for every kind of treatment. For example, in
1400
the treatment for maximum strength (quenching + tempering,
1300
d5; du , % structure of tempered martensite) c.s.h. @ 80 and du @ 4.0%;
1200 35 When the treatment is performed in the range of intermediate
transformations (structures of upper bainite, sorbite)
1100 30
c.s.h. @ 50 – 60 and du @ 5.5 – 8%; in hardening with heating
1000 25 to the temperature of the beginning of phase transformations
that ensure minimum growth in the ultimate rupture strength
900 20
in many cases, c.s.h. @ 30 and du > 9% [1].
800 15 Results of a comparison of mechanical properties of
d5
tubes from steels 15G2 and 20 subjected to traditional heat
700 10
treatment and to RIHT in various modes are presented in Ta-
600 5 ble 2. It can be seen that none of the heat treatment methods
du except for the RIHT ensured the optimum combination of
500 0 strength and ductility in the studied steels at any level of heat
550 600 650 700 750 800 850 900 t, °C
hardening. RIHT gives substantially higher of c.s.h. at in-
Fig. 1. Mechanical properties of pipes from steels 20 and 15G2 as a creased fraction of uniform elongation (du ) and total elonga-
function of the temperature at optimum variants of induction heat tion (d5 ) than the traditional hardening processes, which
treatment (scattering bands). should obviously raise the reliability of articles.
The data presented in Fig. 1 and Table 2 show that heat
substantially close to 750°C, which is connected with the be- hardening by the method of RIHT with heating to a tempera-
ginning of phase transformations in the steel. ture lower than the initial temperature of phase transforma-
In many branches of industry, materials possessing a tions ensures the lowest scattering of the values of uniform
high strength and ductility, an elevated resistance to brittle elongation (du ) at comparatively wide scattering of the va-
fracture, and a rather low cold-shortness threshold are cha- lues of the total elongation (d5 ); the latter almost doubles in
racterized by the coefficient of strain hardening (c.s.h.), this temperature range (650 – 750°C). In RIHT with heating
which is an important parameter representing the ratio of the in the range of phase transformations (from Ac1 to Ac3 ) the
difference between the ultimate rupture strength and the proportion of du and d5 increases continuously and attains
yield strength to the uniform component of the elongation 55 – 60% of d5 near the temperature of formal (according to
(sr – s0.2 )/du [1]. the phase diagrams) finish of the austenization process,

TABLE 1. Chemical Composition of Studied Steels (Tubes), Mechanical Properties and Structure in the Initial State
Grade
Size of tube Content of elements, %
of steel
15G2 Æ 32.0 mm, C Si Mn P S Cu Al Nb V
h = 2.0 mm 0.15 0.21 1.25 0.02 0.01 0.1 0.05 0.02 0.02
Mechanical properties
s0.2, MPa sr, MPa s0.2 /sr d5, % du, % du /d5 (sr – s0.2 )/du HVmean
715 – 730 870 – 880 0.82 – 0.83 11 – 12 2.7 – 3.0 0.230 – 0.270 57.4 – 50.0 280 – 320
Structure
Strained ferrite-pearlite, 1-point banding, grain size No. 9 (GOST 5639–82)
20 Æ 36.0 mm, Content of elements, %
h = 2.6 mm C Si Mn P S Cu Cr Ni V Al
0.17 0.22 0.70 0.03 0.02 0.1 0.20 0.20 0.02 0.07
Mechanical properties
s0.2, MPa sr , MPa s0.2 /sr d5, % du, % du /d5 (sr – s0.2 )/du HVmean
740 – 760 880 – 900 0.83 – 0.85 10.5 – 11.5 2.5 – 2.8 0.24 – 0.27 56.0 – 50.0 270 – 310
Structure
Strained ferrite-pearlite, 2-point banding, interrupted pearlite streaks, grain size No. 8-9 (GOST 5639–82)
Rapid Induction Heat Treatment of Articles from Plain and Low-Alloy Low-Carbon and Medium-Carbon Steels 237

sr , ÌPà
which is very important from the standpoint of increasing the
structural strength of the treated article.
The advantages of the RIHT process over traditional heat 1400
hardening of plain and low-alloy low-carbon steels become 1300
obvious when we compare the ultimate rupture strength sr
with the uniform (du ) and total (d5 ) elongation (Fig. 2). It 1200
can be seen that the mechanical properties of steels treated
1100
by the method of RIHT are substantially higher than the
properties provided by TMHH. RIHT with heating to tem- 1000 RIHT
peratures below the range of phase transformations ensures
total elongation d5 closest to the bottom (left) boundary of 900
the band of scattering of mechanical properties, i.e., differs 800 TMHH
the least from the elongation of steels subjected to TMHH. TMHH
RIHT
The uniform elongation du of these steels after RIHT is 700 d5
shifted to the upper (right) boundary of the band of scattering
600
of mechanical properties, i.e., is 1.4 – 1.6 times higher than du
du of the steels treated for the same hardness by the method 500
of TMHH. 0 5 10 15 20 d5; du , %
When RIHT is performed with heating to temperatures
Fig. 2. Relation between the ultimate rupture strength sr and the
above the initial temperature of phase transformations, the elongation (total elongation d5 and its uniform component du ) of
values of d5 and du stably lie in the middle part of the bands steels 20 and 15G2 after TMHH and RIHT (scattering bands): N, :,
of scattering of mechanical properties (d5 » 13.5 – 19.5%, ^, O) TMHH, modes 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11; ´, p, ), =) RIHT, modes 2,

du = 6 – 10%), and the hardening is very considerable, i.e., 4, 6, 8, 10, 12.

sr » 950 – 1250 MPa at c.s.h. = 55 – 75.
Finally, RIHT with heating to the temperatures of
austenization of low-carbon steels shifts the obtained values
of d5 to the top (right) boundary of the band of scattering of
mechanical properties and du to the bottom (left) boundary of
the corresponding scattering band. The uniform elongation
does not fall below 3.5% (du » 4 – 6%) and the total elonga-
tion decreases to the value of d5 of the initially deformed ma-
terial (d5 » 14 – 15%). The strength attains maximum possi-
ble values for the considered steels at c.s.h. = 80 – 90.
It is known that hardening of the steel can occur as a re-
sult of growth in the dislocation density of the structure, due
to formation of solid solutions, due to grain disintegration
ensured in this or that way, and due to dispersed particles of
another phase [1 – 4].
RIHT of low-alloy low-carbon steels involves the most
fully the mechanism of grain disintegration and the mecha-
nism of the action of dispersed particles of another phase. In
addition, the very fact of initial hardening of these steels by
cold plastic deformation activates the mechanism of grain
disintegration, i.e., raises the efficiency of the hardening.

TABLE 2. Mechanical Properties of Tubes from Steels 20 (1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 10 ) and 15G2 (3, 4, 7, 8, 11, 12 ) after RIHT and TMHH
Treatment s0.2 , MPa sr , MPa s0.2 /sr d5 , % du , % du /d5 (sr – s0.2 )/du
Furnace 920°C, water bath (mode 1 ) 1000 1300 0.77 11.0 3.5 0.32 57
RIHT 850 – 900°C, intense water shower
(mode 2 ) 1030 – 1080 1380 – 1400 0.75 – 0.77 10 – 11 3.9 – 4.0 0.36 – 0.38 83 – 88
Furnace 900°C, water bath (mode 3 ) 850 1150 0.74 13.0 4.0 0.32 75
RIHT 850 – 900°C, intense water shower
(mode 4 ) 1040 – 1120 1380 – 1440 0.75 – 0.77 9.7 – 11.7 3.7 – 4.1 0.37 – 0.38 83 – 88
Furnace 820 – 850°C, water bath (mode 5 ) 400 600 0.67 23.0 10.0 0.43 20
RIHT 800 – 850°C, water shower (mode 6 ) 740 – 850 1150 – 1250 0.65 – 0.70 12.6 – 13.6 5.3 – 7.0 0.42 – 0.51 60 – 75
Furnace 800 – 850°C, water bath (mode 7 ) 480 800 0.8 19.0 8.0 0.42 40
RIHT 800 – 850°C, water shower (mode 8 ) 530 – 570 960 – 1100 0.55 – 0.60 13.0 – 17.0 7.0 – 8.0 0.47 – 0.54 54 – 76
Furnace 700 – 750°C, water bath (mode 9 ) 320 480 0.66 28.0 11.1 0.42 14.5
RIHT 700 – 750°C, water shower (mode 10 ) 530 – 660 800 – 950 0.66 – 0.69 15 – 19 9.4 – 9.7 0.51 – 0.63 28 – 30
Furnace 700 – 750°C, water bath (mode 11 ) 450 570 0.79 20.0 9.0 0.45 13
RIHT 700 – 750°C, water shower (mode 12 ) 550 – 600 890 – 980 0.61 – 0.62 16 – 19 9.3 – 10.9 0.57 – 0.58 31 – 41
238
Conventional furnace heating of these steels in a range of
500 – 650°C is accompanied by recrystallization processes
(rest, primary, and, partially, collective recrystallization),
which occur the fuller the lower the heating rate due to their
diffusion nature [5]. In RIHT only the stages of rest and col-
lective recrystallization have time to finish by the end of the
heating, which gives rise to a partially renewed structure of
ferrite and pearlite with high fineness due to the considerable
rates of temperature growth [5, 6]. Intensification of heat re-
moval after heating to 650°C ensures fixation of the grain
size [7]. The size of ferrite grains in steels 20 and 15G2 after
RIHT to 650°C corresponds to No. 11-12 (GOST 5639–82),
sr » 700 – 800 MPa, d5 = 13 – 25%, and du » 6 – 9%.
After intense cooling of these steels during RIHT to
650 – 750°C the structure of the matrix consists of ferrite
grains of size No. 12-13 with high homogeneity and of bro-
ken thinned streaks of pearlite. The ultimate rupture strength
is at a level sr » 820 – 1020 MPa (depending on the mode of
RIHT), and the elongation d5 » 28 – 15% and du » 7 – 11%.
After intense cooling from 750 – 850°C the structure of
these steels remains untransformed but somewhat distorted
(deformed) ferrite grains in addition to the grains of upper
bainite and sorbite; martensite virtually does not form.
Striation disappears. The grain size remains at a level of
No. 12, sr » 900 – 1300 MPa (depending on the RIHT mode),
d5 » 20 – 12%, and du » 11 – 4%.
Only the heating above 870 – 900°C and intense cooling
cause formation of a rather inhomogeneous structure of
martensite, lower bainite, and sorbite with grain size No. 11
and reduced ductility.
Thus, when the heating is performed to 650 – 850°C at
high enough rates and with subsequent intense cooling, the
grain size decreases by 3 – 4 numbers on the GOST 5639–82
scale (from No. 9-10 in the initial state to No. 12-13), and the
articles harden substantially but lose some ductility (the
more the lower the heating rate, the higher the heating tem-
perature in the mentioned range, and the higher the cooling
intensity).
N. V. Zimin and O. S. Martynov
Proceeding from the available data on the effect of de-
crease in the grain size in hardening on the resistance of the
steel to brittle fracture and on the cold shortness threshold
[1 – 4] we can assume that the method of RIHT, which en-
sures grain disintegration of initially deformed plain and
low-alloy low-carbon steels by 3 – 4 points of the scale of
GOST 5639–82, lowers substantially the embrittlement and
the cold-shortness threshold of heat hardened articles (by
30 – 60°C).
CONCLUSIONS
The method of rapid induction heating (RIHT) deve-
loped at VNIITVCh for plain and low-alloy low-carbon and
medium-carbon steels is one of the most effective and eco-
nomically profitable methods of heat hardening. It ensures
a wide range of strength values in the articles [from
sr = 700 MPa to sr » 1500 MPa (increase by a factor
2 – 2.5)] at high enough ductility (especially the uniform
component of the elongation du ) and very high but struc-
ture-dependent coefficients of strain hardening (c.s.h.).
REFERENCES
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3. M. L. Bernshtein, Structure of Deformed Metals [in Russian],
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Steel [in Russian], Metallurgiya, Moscow (1979).
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