MSE671: Heat Treatments and Surface Hardening

Mid Sem Exam

Date: 21/09/2023
Marks: {50} max

Name: Roll No.:

Q. No. 1-5 6 7 8 9 10 Total

Marks

For Questions 1 to 5 below, select the correct option (only one correct option):
{2} marks each

1. What is the typical temperature range in which a hypereutectoid steel is heated

for annealing treatment?
a. 20-40K above Acm.
b. 20-40K above Ae1
c. 20-40K below Ae1.
d. 80-100K above Acm.
2. How many octahedral voids per unit cell are present in an FCC crystal?
a. 4
b. 12
c. 8
d. 6
3. A ferritic plate is isothermally thickening in an austenitic matrix by diffusion
controlled growth at the rate of 20 µm/s. The carbon diffusion coefficient in
austenite at the growth temperature is 1 µm2/s and the equilibrium composition
of austenite at the interface is 0.5 wt%. Assuming linear diffusion and linear
concentration gradient, what should be the steel composition? The diffusion
front has extended up to only 50 nm from the interface and rest of the matrix is
unaffected. Take equilibrium ferrite concentration as 0.022 wt% C.
a. 1.79 wt% C
b. 0.77 wt% C
c. 0.022 wt% C
d. 0.261 wt% C

4. A 0.4 wt% C steel was given normalizing treatment. What should be the pearlite
fraction (wt%) in the final microstructure? Take equilibrium concentrations of
ferrite and eutectoid austenite just below Ae1 as 0.022 and 0.77 wt% C
respectively.
a. < 31.35%
b. ~31.25
c. > 50.5%
d. 40%
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5. Which of the following is the correct order of processes in the increasing order
of temperature at which they occur during tempering of martensite?
a. carbon precipitation, formation of ε carbides, formation of cementite,
spheroidization of cementite
b. formation of ε carbides, carbon precipitation, formation of cementite,
spheroidization of cementite
c. spheroidization of cementite, formation of ε carbides, formation of
cementite, carbon precipitation
d. carbon precipitation, formation of cementite, formation of ε carbides,
spheroidization of cementite

Solve Questions 6 to 10 as directed below:

6. Draw a schematic lattice showing one octahedral position in a BCC crystal.

Only show the atom positions that surround the octahedral void. {5}

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7. A binary system A-B exhibits simple eutectic phase diagram with the
equilibrium eutectic temperature at 700 °C. At the eutectic temperature, the
equilibrium compositions of the two solid phases in equilibrium (𝜶 and β) are
5 at% and 90 at% of B whereas the eutectic composition is 30 at% B.
a) Draw schematic Gibbs free energy curves for the three phases at 700 °C,
correctly displaying the phase stability. {5}
b) If the liquid is undercooled by 100 °C before the eutectic transformation,
how the compositions of 𝜶 and β would be affected; whether it would
cause increase or decrease in solute contents? Justify with modified Gibbs
free energy curves on the same diagram. {5}

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8. A 0.8 wt% C steel is being tempered at 750 °C. The coarsening of cementite
globules starts at the end of 2 hour of tempering when the average radius of
cementite particles is 50 nm. What would be the average radius of the cementite
particles at the end of 202 hours of tempering? Equilibrium compositions of
ferrite and cementite at 750 °C can be taken as 6.67% and 0.022% respectively
if interfacial energy effects are ignored. The ferrite/cementite interfacial energy
and molar volume of cementite can be taken as 500 mJ/m2 and 8 cc/mol
respectively. The diffusion coefficient of C in ferrite at 750 °C is 5 x 10-17 m2/s.
{5}

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9. Referring to the TTT diagram given below:

a. State and sketch the final phase contents for Cooling Curve (i) {5}
b. Draw a schematic cooling curve that would yield a mixture of
proeutectoid ferrite, lower bainite and some martensite. {5}

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10. A plain carbon steel containing 0.3 wt% carbon is undergoing isothermal
proeutectoid transformation at 750 °C, at which temperature the equilibrium
compositions of ferrite and austenite are 0.019 and 0.673 wt% C respectively.
Diffusion coefficient of carbon in austenite at this temperature can be taken
constant as 4.5 x 10-13 m2/s.
a. Assuming linear concentration profile of carbon in austenite ahead of
the ferrite/austenite interface, what should be the thickness of a ferritic
grain-boundary allotriomorph after 1 hour of its nucleation? {5}
b. If the carbon concentration profile is not linear, what should be the
thickness? (Hint: use iterative method as explained in the class and
determine the value accurate to third decimal place) {5}

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Error Function Table

Example: erf (0.11) = 0.12362

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ROUGH WORK
(Do not write any answers here. This sheet will not be graded.)

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ROUGH WORK
(Do not write any answers here. This sheet will not be graded.)

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