Heat Treat: Making Metal Stronger, Harder & More Durable
Steel has been around for ages, even the Romans used it back in 223 B.C. Ancient civilizations were able to find a way to make steel, as almost 5% of the earth’s crust consists of iron, making it the 2nd most abundant metal in the earth.[1]
Steel is made through the addition of carbon into iron (up to 2%) which happens with extremely high heat. One part of steel production that not too many people know about is heat treatment. Heat treatment is a method used to make metals stronger, harder, and more durable. This method is very important to many steel and metallic parts.
Click the buttons below to learn more about specific traditional heat treatments, offered at our Burton Ave. location in Waterloo, Iowa:
AGE HARDENING ANNEALING CARBURIZING CARBONITRIDING CRYOGENIC TREATMENT INDUCTION HARDENING STRESS RELIEVING THROUGH HARDENING / QUENCH & TEMPER
Heat treatment of steel and other metals can lead to:
- Improved wear resistance
- Increased resistance to deformation and warpage and
- Increased strength or toughness
When common metals, such as steels, are heated to high temperatures, there is a significant change at the atomic level. Iron atoms are originally arranged into crystal structures that change shape when heated; of which there are two common structures.
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[1] http://www.gsa.org.au/resources/factites/factitesIron.pdf