Heat treatment techniques use a two-step processing methodology. Logically, it begins with the workpiece entering a fiery environment, perhaps a gas-fired furnace. Here, the metal component is subjected to enough thermal energy to modify the metal’s base properties.
Work hardened metals are difficult to form. The machining and shaping work has impacted the material in such a way as to cause the metal’s grain to compact and shrink.
If we’ve placed a great deal of emphasis on materials, there’s a good reason for this seemingly off-kilter approach. Materials must be heat treated if the mechanical and physical properties of a component are to comply with the rigorous requirements found in today’s industrial applications.
The principal objective of this discussion is to determine the causes of distortion and residual stresses in heat treatment.
Fine manufacturing processes create sturdy cast iron items and robust steel-reinforced components that resonate with structural soundness, but such mechanical solidity doesn’t just happen, not without an incorporated processing stage that intelligently manipulates key metallic properties until they fit a specified application.