Blog

Ferrous metals are those that contain iron. Laced with carbon and other exotic elements, iron is a durable, structurally capable alloy. It exudes a polished finish when formed into stainless steel, becomes malleable and machine-formable when forged as mild steel, and it even demonstrates a high measure of corrosion resistance when mixed with nickel. Endlessly […]

Heat treatment science employs an equal opportunities approach to the field of metal strengthening. That’s another way of saying the techniques used here aren’t just used to harden ferrous workpieces. Indeed, full-service heat treatment facilities toughen soft non-ferrous components, too. Needless to say, though, a different set of processing standards are implemented when a non-ferrous […]

Salt Case Hardening, the term sounds so exotic. The knowledgeable heat treatment professional knows exactly what’s happening when the technique is applied, of course. Meanwhile, for the novice engineers out there, it’s possible to infer the case hardening approach used here, perhaps by focusing on the saltiness of the procedure. Sit tight for the next […]

In this heat treatment technique, a counterintuitive reaction is seemingly encountered as a metal workpiece is heated and held at a predetermined furnace temperature. Remarkably, instead of hardening the alloy, the procedure softens the part and makes it more ductile. That thought goes against the grain. Well, it seems to, but this is the intended […]

A problem-solving guide for black oxide coatings, that’s the direction this article is taking. The finish should be oily black. Putting a tick in that checkbox, the coating should also be moderately corrosion resistant. Only, the inspector’s pen is wavering. There’s an issue with the ebony-hued conversion coating. Spotting problems are apparent, as are strange […]

There’s no end to the number of metals out there, all of which serve different roles in countless applications. Selecting the materials, it’s up to a metallurgically talented sourcing expert to choose the material classifications that satisfy a customer’s demands. Heat treatment technology then further processes the metal so that it has all of the […]

Sintered components are produced when fine metallic powders are compacted inside special cavities. As high pressures cause densification, heat is added. Therefore, as a process precursor, this operation employs a finite amount of heat treatment toughening right at the end of the product forming procedure. However, if the tightly packed, materially diffused particles still don’t […]

A newly arrived batch of mild steel indicates this is a low carbon steel. The carbon quotient is noted, then the load is transported onwards. Putting this scenario on pause for a minute or two, we ask the following question: can low carbon steels be heat treated? Still frozen in time, the engineers ponder a […]

Undergoing heat treatment, a steel workpiece warms until it’s almost red-hot. Engineers monitor the process, compare the actions taking place in the furnace to specially formulated graphs, and the metal exhibits a hardenability-biased phase change. The newly transformed martensite is ultra-hard, and that microcrystalline state is validated by the quench operation and tempering work. Just […]

Here’s a case study where a steel workpiece was hardened in a cutting-edge furnace. The process is locked in, and it has been exhaustively tested, so the repeatability factor is indisputable. The internal structure of the alloy workpiece has transformed. It’s mechanically harder, more durable and rigid than before the heat treatment action. However, at […]