Heat Treating Metal: An Overview

Altering the properties of a metal requires the use of heat, or removing heat using a quenching technique. Treating metal with heat, or cooling it after it is heated, can alter the following properties to various degrees: ductility, hardness, softness, stress, and tensile strength. To achieve one or more of the properties, a number of of the next treatments can be utilized: annealing, tempering, hardening, quenching, normalizing, and stress relieving. A synopsis 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.  https://www.linkedin.com/company/all-steel-fabricating-inc/  is typically performed on chromium alloys such as stainless steel.
Process annealing- Process annealing makes metal simpler to cold roll or draw. Additionally, it may 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 simpler to machine, or even to improve its dimensional stability.

Annealing takes place 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 really 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 chance 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 selection of 300�F - 2250�F.

Normalizing

Normalizing is conducted on ferrous metals to increase their mechanical properties, or even to improve their response to the hardening process. Normalizing takes place in a temperature range of 1600�F - 1800�F.

Stress Relieving

Stress relieving relieves stresses in metal to improve dimensional stability and tensile strength. Common examples of stress inducers include: flame cutting, cold working, quenching, and welding fabrication. The strain relieving process occurs in a temperature range of 300�F - 1400�F.

Conclusion

The list above is really a basic overview of heat treating processes offered by professional metal treatment services. When a company needs to alter the properties of metal pieces or assemblies, having them treated with these processes may bring remarkable cost savings compared to buying new components. To find out more on the processes above and other metal working processes such as for example brazing, contact a metal treatment service today.