Heat treatments subject certain materials to one or more thermal cycles below their melting temperature. In this way the mechanical and technological properties of these alloys are changed by acting on their structure.
Take steel, for example: to increase its hardness it is brought to a high temperature and then rapidly quenched in water (conversely, to make it softer and easier to work, the same operation is carried out but very slowly). In short, heating and cooling are the basic operations of heat treatments.
Hardness is just one of the properties that heat treatments can change: they can also affect fatigue strength, toughness, machinability and ductility. But what are the main heat treatments materials can undergo?
Heat treatments: types and stages
If you are looking for a company that can handle induction hardening or carbonitriding in the Verona area, you’re in the right place! T.M.G. Srl also manages these, as well as electroplating and heat treatments for the parts it produces. These are three types of treatment, but not the only ones: alloys can also undergo tempering, quenching and tempering, annealing, normalising, carburising and cyaniding.
Heat treatment has three basic stages: heating, holding at the set temperature and cooling. Its duration is made up of three corresponding periods: heating time, holding time at constant temperature and cooling time.