Heat treatments must be adapted to the specific type of metal alloy to improve its workability. Steels are among the most common materials to undergo treatment. Let’s look at the main types of treatment and how they increase hardness, corrosion resistance, ductility and toughness.
- Annealing is essential for removing internal stresses, improving machinability and refining the grain of steels, making them more ductile and uniform. Annealing a metal alloy such as steel is often the first step before complex machining.
- Hardening and tempering are fundamental for increasing hardness and strength, and are applied to quench-and-temper steels for heavily stressed components.
- Carburising is a thermochemical treatment that enriches the steel surface with carbon, creating an extremely hard (wear-resistant) outer layer while the core remains tougher. It is ideal for gears, pins and shafts.
- Nitriding, similar to carburising, introduces nitrogen into the steel surface, giving high surface hardness and resistance to corrosion and fatigue, without the need for subsequent hardening.
- Normalising is used to refine the grain and improve the machinability of steels.
Aluminium alloys, although lightweight, can significantly improve their mechanical properties through specific heat treatments:
- Solution treatment and ageing. A sequence of heating (solution treatment) followed by natural or artificial ageing, which precipitates intermetallic phases within the structure and significantly increases the alloy’s hardness and mechanical strength. Here too, a specific form of annealing can prepare the alloy for subsequent treatments.
Copper and brass alloys also benefit from heat treatments. Annealing is used to soften the material after cold working (e.g. deep drawing, bending) that increases its hardness. Annealing a copper-based alloy restores ductility and allows further processing. Some copper alloys, such as copper-beryllium, can be precipitation-hardened to achieve high hardness and strength.
Titanium alloys are known for their excellent strength-to-weight ratio and biocompatibility. Heat treatments refine their properties further. Annealing can improve ductility and machinability by reducing residual stresses, and is crucial for the formability of titanium alloys. Hardening and ageing help increase strength and hardness, especially in complex alloys used in aerospace and medical applications.
Our precision turning shop can coordinate all these processes. Through an established network of certified suppliers specialising in electroplating, heat treatments and grinding, we ensure that every component meets the required specifications with maximum reliability and performance.
Precision, certified quality and custom solutions
For years our turning shop has stood out for its ability to supply precision mechanical components made to each customer’s order. The certified quality of every single part is not just something we are proud of, but a promise kept through rigorous inspection and partnerships with the best heat and surface treatment specialists, including expert management of alloy annealing. Reliable delivery times, combined with close attention to custom solutions for each customer, have made us a highly qualified reference for the Italian and international markets.
Whether you need a component that requires through-hardening, case hardening or annealing to optimise machinability, we are the ideal partner. Our expertise in heat treatments for metalworking allows us to guide you towards the most effective solutions, always ensuring maximum efficiency and excellent results.
Do you have a project that requires high-precision mechanical components with specific mechanical properties? Contact us today for personalised advice and find out how our experience and network of certified suppliers can make the difference.