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The Basics of Heat Treating...
HEAT TREATING 101
Heat Treating involves heating and cooling a solid metal or alloy in
such a way as to result in desired conditions or properties. Typically
the end result is hardening the metal, but that isn't always the case.
Reasons for heat treating can include the following:
- Removing stresses such as those that typically developed in the initial
machining of a part
- Refine the grain structure of the steel used in a part
- Add wear resistance to the surface of a part by increasing its hardness,
and, at the same time, increase its resistance to impacts by maintaining
a softer, more ductile core
- Enhance the properties of an economical grade of steel, making it
possible to replace a more expensive material to reduce costs in a given
application
- Increase toughness by providing a combination of high tensile strength
and good ductility to enhance impact strength
- Improve the cutting properties of tool steels
- Enhance electrical properties
- Alter magnetic properties
Vacuum Processing |
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Annealing |
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Stress relieving |
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Aging |
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Hardening |
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Tempering |
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Sintering |
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Retort Processing |
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Normalizing |
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Stress relieving |
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Annealing |
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Hardening |
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Aging |
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Tempering |
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Air Processing |
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Normalizing |
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Stress relieving |
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Annealing |
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Hardening |
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Aging |
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Tempering |
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Endothermic Processing |
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Hardening |
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Normalizing |
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Case hardening |
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Carburizing |
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Carbonitriding |
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Neutral Salt Processing |
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Annealing |
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Normalizing |
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Hardening |
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Cryogenic Processing |
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Sub-zero stabilization |
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Stress relieving |
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