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.
This process is done at extreme temperatures. The temperatures have to be extremely high or extremely low. Extreme temperatures allow for softening or hardening materials as required. As stated earlier, heat treatment is a collection of processes. Some of these processes are tempering, quenching, normalizing, annealing, precipitation strengthening, aging, and case hardening. It is only if the cooling and heating is done in order to intentionally alter the properties of a material that they process is called heat treatment. Other manufacturing processes may lead to incidental heating and cooling and cannot be referred to by this term.
The level of temperatures coupled with precision in timing of the temperatures is important for achieving specific qualities in metals in these processes. When timing is precise, desired qualities are achieved easily. Different metals exhibit different temperatures depending on the temperatures and precision of timing. Getting the temperatures and timing wrong can produce very different qualities in the metal.
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.
This process is done at extreme temperatures. The temperatures have to be extremely high or extremely low. Extreme temperatures allow for softening or hardening materials as required. As stated earlier, heat treatment is a collection of processes. Some of these processes are tempering, quenching, normalizing, annealing, precipitation strengthening, aging, and case hardening. It is only if the cooling and heating is done in order to intentionally alter the properties of a material that they process is called heat treatment. Other manufacturing processes may lead to incidental heating and cooling and cannot be referred to by this term.
The level of temperatures coupled with precision in timing of the temperatures is important for achieving specific qualities in metals in these processes. When timing is precise, desired qualities are achieved easily. Different metals exhibit different temperatures depending on the temperatures and precision of timing. Getting the temperatures and timing wrong can produce very different qualities in the metal.
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.
About the Author:
There may come a time when people need extra help to find out about the benefits of industrial heat treating. We urge you to spend a minute exploring this web page at http://gulfcoastcombustion.com now.
No comments:
Post a Comment