Heat Treating Metal: An Overview

Altering the properties of a metal requires the use of heat, or the removal of heat utilizing a quenching technique. Treating metal with heat, or cooling it after it is heated, can alter the next properties to various degrees: ductility, hardness, softness, stress, and tensile strength. To achieve one or more of these properties, a number of of the following treatments may be used: annealing, tempering, hardening, quenching, normalizing, and stress relieving. An overview of every treatment is listed below: Annealing Annealing removes stresses or induces softness to boost ductility or formability, respectively. Common types of annealing include: Bright annealing- Bright annealing is conducted in a vacuum furnace, bell annealer, or controlled atmosphere furnace to prevent oxidation. It really is typically performed on chromium alloys such as for example stainless steel. Process annealing- Process annealing makes metal simpler to cold roll or draw. Click here for more info can also make it more formable for bending applications. Recovery annealing- Recovery annealing restores ductility and reduces stresses in cold worked metal. Full annealing- Full annealing produces the softest, most stress-free metal. It really is typically performed to make metal better to machine, or to improve its dimensional stability. Annealing occurs in a temperature range of 300�F – 2250�F. Tempering Tempering reduces stresses and unwanted hardness caused by quenching. It is often performed after quenching that follows brazing or annealing. The tempering process takes place in a temperature range of 350�F – 1250�F. Hardening Hardening is a heating treating process that improves the mechanical properties and hardness of metals. It really is typically performed by means of “quenching.” Common hardening methods include: Water quenching- Water quenching improves the strength and hardness of low and medium carbon steel. Oil quenching- Oil quenching improves the strength and hardness of medium and high carbon steel. Air quenching- Air quenching improves the strength and hardness of low and medium carbon steel while reducing the risk of distortion. Age hardening- Age hardening is performed on alloys that harden because of age or the current presence of precipitation. Hardening takes place in a temperature range of 300�F – 2250�F. Normalizing Normalizing is conducted on ferrous metals to improve their mechanical properties, or even to improve their reaction to the hardening process. Normalizing occurs in a temperature range of 1600�F – 1800�F. Stress Relieving Stress relieving relieves stresses in metal to boost dimensional stability and tensile strength. Common examples of stress inducers include: flame cutting, cold working, quenching, and welding fabrication. check here relieving process occurs in a temperature selection of 300�F – 1400�F. Conclusion The list above is a basic overview of heat treating processes provided by professional metal treatment services. When a company needs to alter the properties of metal pieces or assemblies, having them treated with these processes can bring remarkable cost savings compared to buying new components. To find out more on the processes above along with other metal working processes such as for example brazing, contact a metal treatment service today.