Heat Treating Metal
Heat treating of metal is a process that is used to harden or soften metals by heating and cooling them until desired properties are reached. Some commonly heat-treated metals include aluminum, titanium, and magnesium, although steel is by far the most commonly heat treated metal. Heat treating is an energy-intensive process that changes the internal atomic structure of the metal being heated.
Some common treatments employed during heat treating include annealing, case hardening, homogenizing, normalizing, quenching, stabilizing, stress relieving, and tempering. Annealing transforms small grains into larger grains and results in a soft, ductile metal, while normalizing erases the effects of any previous heat treatment. Quenching, which refers to the rapid cooling of metal, can be used to increase a metal's strength.
Many different kinds of equipment are used during the heat treating process. Some of these tools include furnaces, torches, salt bathes, heating blankets, and lasers. Heat treating is used to make a variety of goods in the automotive, construction, manufacturing, and tool and die industries. Some examples of heat-treated metal goods include knives, swords, musical instruments, and metal machine components.