Metallurgy for Non-Metallurgists: Steels, Heat Treatment and Failure Analysis – Barcelona, 26–30 Apr 2027

Programme overview

Introduction:

Metallurgy for non-metallurgists matters because pumps, shafts, bolts, vessels and exchanger tubes fail early when the wrong steel grade is bought, a heat treatment is skipped or a test certificate is read without understanding. This Core Concept course gives engineers and inspectors a working grasp of metal structure, the iron-carbon diagram, steel and alloy families, heat treatment, mechanical testing, damage mechanisms and fractography. Participants apply it to failed parts and material records and complete a Materials Selection and Failure Investigation Worksheet for a component from their own plant.

Course Objectives:

• Explain how crystal structure, grain size and phases on the iron-carbon diagram govern the strength and toughness of steel
• Distinguish carbon, low-alloy and stainless steels and the main copper, nickel, aluminium and titanium alloy groups from their composition and designation
• Specify annealing, normalising, quenching and tempering to reach a required hardness and toughness
• Interpret tensile, hardness and Charpy impact results on test certificates against the property values a design requires
• Select a material for a given temperature, pressure and corrosive service and record the reasons for the choice
• Recognise fatigue, creep and embrittlement from fracture surface evidence and plan a basic failure investigation

Target Audience:

• Mechanical and maintenance engineering staff who specify replacement parts and approve material substitutions
• Inspection and integrity staff who examine equipment in service and report cracking, distortion or damage
• QA/QC staff who review mill test certificates, heat treatment records and incoming material
• Process and project engineering staff who choose materials for new equipment and modifications
• Procurement and materials coordination staff who buy metal products to technical specifications

Course Outline:

Day 1: Metal Structure, Phases and the Iron-Carbon Diagram

• Metallic Bonding and Crystal Structures: BCC, FCC and HCP Lattices
• Grains, Grain Boundaries and Alloying: Solid Solutions and Second Phases
• Iron-Carbon Phase Diagram: Ferrite, Austenite, Cementite and Pearlite Fields
• Upper and Lower Critical Temperatures and Slow-Cooling Transformations
• Metallographic Specimen Preparation, Etching and Optical Microscope Examination

Day 2: Steel Families, Stainless Grades and Non-Ferrous Alloys

• Carbon Steel Classes by Carbon Content: Low, Medium and High Carbon Grades
• Low-Alloy Steels: Chromium, Molybdenum and Nickel Additions for Strength and Heat Resistance
• Stainless Steel Families: Austenitic, Ferritic, Martensitic, Duplex and Precipitation Hardening
• Non-Ferrous Overview: Copper, Nickel, Aluminium and Titanium Alloy Groups
• Mill Test Certificates, Grade Designations and Chemical Composition Tables

Day 3: Heat Treatment of Steel and Mechanical Property Testing

• Annealing and Normalising Cycles: Heating Temperature, Air or Furnace Cooling and Grain Refinement
• Quenching Media and Martensite Formation: Water, Oil, Polymer and Brine
• Tempering Temperature Selection and the Hardness-Toughness Trade-Off
• Tensile Stress-Strain Curve per ASTM E8/E8M and ISO 6892-1: Yield, UTS, Elongation and Reduction of Area
• Brinell, Rockwell and Vickers Hardness with Charpy Impact per ASTM E23 and ISO 148-1

Day 4: Damage Mechanisms and Materials Selection for Service

• Fatigue Crack Initiation, Growth and Beach Mark Evidence Under Cyclic Loading
• Creep Stages: Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Strain in High-Temperature Components
• Ductile-to-Brittle Transition and Low-Temperature Embrittlement in Ferritic Steels
• Hydrogen Embrittlement and Temper Embrittlement Susceptibility Factors
• Materials Selection Matrix for Temperature, Pressure and Corrosive Process Service

Day 5: Failure Analysis Case Studies and the Investigation Worksheet

• Failure Investigation Sequence: Evidence Preservation, Visual Survey and Sampling Plan
• Fractography: Ductile Dimples, Cleavage Facets and Fatigue Striations Under SEM
• Supporting Tests: EDS Composition Check, Hardness Traverse and Replica Metallography
• Case Study Review: Shaft, Bolt and Exchanger Tube Fractures from Several Sectors
• Materials Selection and Failure Investigation Worksheet Build and Peer Review

Skills You Will Gain:

• Microstructure Interpretation
• Steel Grade Identification
• Heat Treatment Specification
• Mechanical Test Data Review
• Material Certificate Verification
• Service Condition Materials Selection
• Damage Mechanism Recognition
• Fractography Basics

Why Attend This Course:

• Complete a Materials Selection and Failure Investigation Worksheet for a real component from your own plant
• Question supplier certificates and proposed material substitutions with confidence instead of accepting them unchecked
• Talk to metallurgists, laboratories and vendors in shared terms and brief them precisely when a part cracks or wears
• Compare material problems and fixes with peers from oil and gas, power, water, mining and manufacturing

Conclusion:

Most metal failures trace back to a structure, a heat treatment or a property that nobody checked against the service. The course moves from crystal structure and the iron-carbon diagram, through steel, stainless and non-ferrous families, to heat treatment and tensile, hardness and impact testing, then to fatigue, creep and embrittlement and service-based materials selection. The final day applies this to failed-part case studies and completes a Materials Selection and Failure Investigation Worksheet ready for the next material review or failure investigation.