Metals harden when they’re heated, or they become more ductile when they’re heated then cooled at a specific rate. Interestingly enough, metal workpieces change in other ways when cooking in a furnace. With their grains realigning as the thermal energy sends the material into a state of atomic flux, the […]
Red Hardness, the terminology paints quite a picture. After a steel workpiece slides into a furnace, it soaks up so much thermal that it becomes “red hot.” Alloy microstructures alter when they reach this point. The steel hardens. More importantly, the metal retains this hardness quotient after it cools. That’s […]
Once upon a time, blacksmiths heat-treated swords and armour. The job came to an end as the object sizzled in a barrel of water. That action toughened the metal. Just like that, there was no brittleness to worry about during the heat of battle. Modern heat treatment processes have similar […]
Engine connecting rods will be used to illustrate today’s issue. Utilized as key motion imparting components, these rigid steel connectors move in long, linearly oriented strokes. From piston to crankshaft, the linear relationship is maintained. One other thing, the rods have to be hardened by a heat-treatment process. And therein […]
Much though engineers wish the opposite were true, heat treatment work can weaken welded joints. Since welding equipment uses thermal energy to fuse parts together and add filer metals, the application of more heat can further alter a weld’s jointing properties. A frustrating fact indeed, especially since heat treatment processing […]