Heat treatment of iron alloys with carbon

This thesis deals with the processes of heat treatment, their impacts on microstructure of iron alloys with carbon and their influence on hardness of these alloys. In the research part of this thesis are discussed the alloys, which are found within the Fe-Fe3C metastable system, principles and technologies of heat treatment processing with focus on the annealing, methods of microstructure examination and hardness measurement. In the experimental part is documented and evaluated the influence of various types of annealing on hypoeutectoid and hypereutectoid steels and the influence of graphitization on the hypoeutectic cast iron. The evaluation involves comparison of microstructures obtained by light and scanning electron microscopy and comparing the hardness in the green state and after annealing