Heat treating refers to a collection of metalworking and industrial processes that are used for the alteration of physical properties of materials. Besides physical properties, the chemical properties may also be altered through these methods. Metallurgical is the most common application for this process. Industrial heat treating is not only used in the production of metal products, but also glass products and many others.
It requires extreme temperatures to do these processes. Either extremely cold or extremely hot temperatures are used. Such temperatures allow for hardening or softening materials. Like stated above, various processes are comprised in heat treatment, including normalizing, annealing, tempering, precipitation strengthening, aging, case hardening, and quenching. The term heat treatment is preserved for processes that lead to cooling or heating with the intentional of altering of material. Other processes that result in incidental heating and heating do not go by this name.
Different quality levels are achieved depending on precision of the timing and maintenance of temperature. The purpose of being very precise with the temperatures and timing is to achieve the desired qualities. Qualities often vary depending on the temperature and duration of heating. Undesirable results can be easily achieved if the temperatures and timing are not maintained precisely.
Annealing is a very general term. The process of annealing refers to heating metal and then allowing it to cool off at some rate. Cooling is generally done a very slow pace. After cooling is complete, the resultant metal has a refined microstructure with constituents separated partially or completely. The reason for doing annealing is to improve qualities like machinability, electrical conductivity, and ability to be cold worked.
Normalizing is a type of treatment in which the aim is to achieve a uniform grain size and composition in the metal under consideration. The temperatures are maintained at 1550 to 1600 degrees F depending on the kind of steel in question. After heating, the metal is allowed to cool slowly in open air. The steel produced is usually harder and stronger, but may have slightly lower ductility.
As suggested in the name, stress relieving is performed to eliminate or reduce internal stress in metals. The source of the stress is usually processes such as non-uniform cooling and cold working. The metal has to be heated to a temperature below the lower critical temperature before it is put through uniform cooling.
During the process of quenching, the metal is cooled at a very high rate. The reason for this is to allow for martensite transformation of the metal under consideration. When quenching is done to ferrous metal alloys, the metal produced is much harder than the alloy while the opposite is true for non-ferrous alloys, which become too soft.
In most of these processes, temperatures need to be maintained at high levels for many hours. This consumes a lot of energy that may raise monthly energy bills substantially. As a solution, companies have their own sources of energy independent of the national power grid, which they can maintain cheaply. Also, modern furnaces are computerized and very effective in terms of energy consumption.
It requires extreme temperatures to do these processes. Either extremely cold or extremely hot temperatures are used. Such temperatures allow for hardening or softening materials. Like stated above, various processes are comprised in heat treatment, including normalizing, annealing, tempering, precipitation strengthening, aging, case hardening, and quenching. The term heat treatment is preserved for processes that lead to cooling or heating with the intentional of altering of material. Other processes that result in incidental heating and heating do not go by this name.
Different quality levels are achieved depending on precision of the timing and maintenance of temperature. The purpose of being very precise with the temperatures and timing is to achieve the desired qualities. Qualities often vary depending on the temperature and duration of heating. Undesirable results can be easily achieved if the temperatures and timing are not maintained precisely.
Annealing is a very general term. The process of annealing refers to heating metal and then allowing it to cool off at some rate. Cooling is generally done a very slow pace. After cooling is complete, the resultant metal has a refined microstructure with constituents separated partially or completely. The reason for doing annealing is to improve qualities like machinability, electrical conductivity, and ability to be cold worked.
Normalizing is a type of treatment in which the aim is to achieve a uniform grain size and composition in the metal under consideration. The temperatures are maintained at 1550 to 1600 degrees F depending on the kind of steel in question. After heating, the metal is allowed to cool slowly in open air. The steel produced is usually harder and stronger, but may have slightly lower ductility.
As suggested in the name, stress relieving is performed to eliminate or reduce internal stress in metals. The source of the stress is usually processes such as non-uniform cooling and cold working. The metal has to be heated to a temperature below the lower critical temperature before it is put through uniform cooling.
During the process of quenching, the metal is cooled at a very high rate. The reason for this is to allow for martensite transformation of the metal under consideration. When quenching is done to ferrous metal alloys, the metal produced is much harder than the alloy while the opposite is true for non-ferrous alloys, which become too soft.
In most of these processes, temperatures need to be maintained at high levels for many hours. This consumes a lot of energy that may raise monthly energy bills substantially. As a solution, companies have their own sources of energy independent of the national power grid, which they can maintain cheaply. Also, modern furnaces are computerized and very effective in terms of energy consumption.
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