Heat treatment process

What is Heat Treatment? Although most people don’t know what heat treatment is, it’s actually an essential part of the manufacturing process. That’s because heat treating allows a metal piece to be improved in order for the material to better withstand wear and tear. Heat treatment involves heating a metal or alloy to a specific temperature and then cooling it to harden the material. Heat treatment can be used at different stages in the manufacturing process to change certain properties of that metal or alloy. For example, you might use heat treatment to make it stronger, harder, more durable, or more ductile, depending on what the material needs in order to perform properly. Some notable industries in which heat treatment plays an important role include aircraft, automobiles, hardware–such as saws and axes, computers, spacecraft, military, and the oil and gas industry. How Does Heat Treatment Work? In order to achieve the desired effect, the metal or alloy is heated up to a specified temperature, sometimes as hot as 2400°F, held at that temperature for a certain amount of time, and then cooled. While it’s hot, the metal’s physical structure, also called the microstructure, changes, ultimately resulting in its physical properties being changed. The length of time the metal is heated for is called the ‘soak time.’ The length of soak time plays an important role in the characteristics of a metal, as metal soaked for a long amount of time will see different microstructure cha...

• العربية • Azərbaycanca • বাংলা • Български • Català • Deutsch • Eesti • Español • Esperanto • فارسی • Français • Gaeilge • Galego • 한국어 • Հայերեն • हिन्दी • Hrvatski • Bahasa Indonesia • Italiano • Қазақша • Nederlands • 日本語 • Polski • Português • Română • Русский • Simple English • کوردی • Српски / srpski • Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски • Suomi • தமிழ் • Türkçe • Українська • Tiếng Việt • 中文 Heat treating (or heat treatment) is a group of heat treatment applies only to processes where the heating and cooling are done for the specific purpose of altering properties intentionally, heating and cooling often occur incidentally during other manufacturing processes such as hot forming or welding. Physical processes [ ] Metallic materials consist of a There are two mechanisms that may change an alloy's properties during heat treatment: the formation of The crystal structure consists of atoms that are grouped in a very specific arrangement, called a lattice. In most elements, this order will rearrange itself, depending on conditions like temperature and pressure. This rearrangement called When in the soluble state, the process of diffusion causes the atoms of the dissolved element to spread out, attempting to form a homogenous distribution within the crystals of the base metal. If the alloy is cooled to an insoluble state, the atoms of the dissolved constituents (solutes) may migrate out of the solution. This type of diffusion, called Unlike iron-based alloys, most heat-treat...

The ultimate guide to Heat Treating Our guide to heat treating will explain all you need to know and more. Heat treating is a pre and post-manufacturing process which is used to change a number of properties of metals and their alloys. The primary use of heat treating is to make the metal suitable for a particular application. Properties effected by the process The process effects the metal to change various properties such as: • Toughness • Strength • Machinability • Hardness • Ductility • Elasticity • Formability Heat treating can also affect the physical and mechanical properties of metal in order to change the use of it to alter future manufacturing carried out on it at a future date. What changes in the metal In order to discuss heat treating it is important to understand the structure and phases of metals and alloys. • Grain Structure – The arrangement of atoms in a metal. • Grain Size – The size of the individual crystals of metal. Large grain size is generally associated with low strength, hardness, and ductility. Steel is composed of crystals which have defined structures determined by the arrangement of its atoms. Within Iron (the base element of steel) are 2 common crystal structures: Body-centered-cubic (BCC) and Face-centered-cubic (FCC). In the example of an FCC structure, it is able to absorb higher quantities of Carbon than in a BCC structure. This is because of an increase in the interstitial sites where carbon can sit between the iron atoms, in other word...

Annealing is a heat treatment process that changes the physical and sometimes also the chemical properties of a material to increase ductility and reduce the hardness to make it more workable. The annealing process requires the material above its recrystallization temperature for a set amount of time before cooling. The cooling rate depends upon the types of metals being annealed. For example, ferrous metals such as steel are usually left to cool down to room temperature in still air while copper, silver and brass can either be slowly cooled in air or quickly quenched in water. The heating process cause atoms to migrate in the crystal lattice and the number of dislocations reduces, which leads to the change in ductility and hardness. The heat treated material recrystallizes as it cools. The crystal grain size and phase composition depend on the heating and cooling rates and these, in turn, determine the material properties. Hot or cold working of the pieces of metal following annealing alters the material structure once more, so further heat treatments may be required to attain the desired properties. However, with knowledge of material composition and phase diagram, heat treating can soften metals and prepare them for further working such as forming, shaping and stamping, as well as preventing brittle failure. An annealing furnace works by heating a material above the recrystallization temperature and then cooling the material once it has been held at the desired temperat...

• Annealing • Austempering • Carburizing and Case Hardening Solutions • Carbonitriding • Cryogenic & Deep Freezing • Ferritic Nitrocarburizing • Flattening & Straightening • Gas Nitriding • Martempering • Precipitation Hardening • Solution Treating • Stress Relieving • Through Hardening • Vacuum Heat Treating • Vacuum Nitriding • Brazing Rapid cooling for strong results. Solution treatment is a heat treating process that heats alloys to a specific temperature, sustaining that temperature long enough to cause one or more constituents to enter into a solid solution and then rapidly cooled to maintain the solution’s properties. Annealing is a commonly used type of solution treatment, sometimes referred to as solution annealing. The Right Procedure for the Right Materials. Solution treatment procedures vary depending on the material being treated. The main variance stems from the temperature the material is heated to and the rate at which it is quenched. While common alloys including iron, nickel, cobalt and aluminum usually undergo some sort of solution treatment prior to manufacturing, other materials such as stainless steel requires vacuum furnaces for solution treatment because they remove gases from the atmosphere, which in turn prevents oxidation. Precipitation hardening is a common next step in the heat treating process, following an anneal and a quench. Finding the Perfect Solution for Your Project. There are many variances to address with solution treating. The main d...

Before modern metalworking techniques were invented, blacksmiths used heat to make metal workable. Once the metal was formed into the desired shape, the heated metal quickly was cooled. Quick cooling made the metal harder and less brittle.​ Modern metalworking has become much more sophisticated and precise, allowing for different techniques to be used for different purposes. Effects of Heat on Metal Subjecting metal to extreme heat causes it to expand in addition to impacting its structure, electrical resistance, and magnetism. Thermal expansion is pretty self-explanatory. Metals expand when subjected to specific temperatures, which vary depending on the metal. The actual structure of metal also changes with heat. Referred to as allotropic phase transformation, heat typically makes metals softer, weaker, and more ductile. Ductility is the ability to stretch metal into a wire or something similar. Heat also can impact the electrical resistance of metal. The hotter the metal gets, the more the electrons scatter, causing the metal to be more resistant to an electrical current. Metals heated to certain temperatures also can lose their magnetism. By raising temperatures to between 626 degrees Fahrenheit and 2,012 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the metal, magnetism will disappear. The temperature at which this happens in a specific metal is known as its Curie temperature. Heat Treatment Heat treatment is the process of heating and cooling metals to change their microstructure ...