The Process, Benefits, and Applications of Stress Relieving on Metal Products

15 June 2022

Many industries require a wide range of products to ensure that they remain functional. One notable material that is used in creating these products is metal.

Metal products have been beneficial to many industries since they are durable and strong. They can also be versatile, allowing manufacturers to alter their properties through casting, welding, forging, soldering, and others. Metal products can likewise resist heat and other elements that can be destructive to products made from other materials.

To date, many processes can be conducted to make metal products machinable and workable. One of these processes is stress relieving.

The Stress Relieving Process

Stress relieving is the process of heating metal workpieces to a predetermined temperature just below their transformation temperature. Subsequently, the heated metal workpieces are subjected to cooling in the furnace or the air. The purpose of this process is to relieve any crystal dislocations or stresses of metal workpieces that have undergone machining, forming, straightening, rolling, and other processes.

This specific process can be done during the manufacturing process of metal workpieces. However, it can also be conducted throughout their life. Metal workpieces that require tight tolerances should undergo this process before their finish machining. Stress relieving can also be carried out before heat treating metal workpieces to effectively minimise distortion. Ultimately, metal workpieces designed for tooling can undergo stress relieving as part of their maintenance or upkeep.

Benefits of Stress Relieving

The working principles of stress relieving can conveniently provide benefits to metal workpieces. Some of the benefits of stress relieving are as follows:

• Longer Service Life – One of the notable benefits of stress relieving is longer service life. Since stresses are eradicated with this process, metal workpieces and the products that they will generate are expected to be less likely to crack or deform during their usage. 
• Minimised Distortion – Stress relieving does not only extend the service life of metal products but can also help enhance their dimensional stability. Whenever stress relieved metal products are in use, they can conveniently hold their tolerances despite being exposed to high impact loads and hot service temperatures. This benefit prevents them from compounding residual stresses internally. 
• Boosted Machinability – One more benefit of stress relieving is it can help metal workpieces be more machinable. Since a lot of industries rely on metal products, processing them with stress relieving allows them to be machined further without any inconsistencies and irregularities. 

Stress Relieving Applications

Tons of metals can undergo stress relieving so they can attain the previously stated benefits. Some of these metals are steel, copper, and brass.

To make stress relieving successful, hardened and tempered parts must be heated at around 50°C below the temperature previously used for their tempering. When stress relieving before nitrocarburizing, the process must be done at temperatures greater than 600°C. To know more about stress relieving applications and other necessary information, you can contact us at Alpha Detroit Heat Treatment.

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