Understanding Heat Treatment Annealing reduces the hardness, improves machinability, facilitates cold forming, produces a desired microstructure, and alters mechanical properties. Annealing normally means full annealing, which involves heating the steel - which has a structure of ferrite plus carbide - to its austenitizing temperature, leaving it at that temperature (soaking) for a predetermined
What are the primary and secondary melting processes that ensure the soundest, cleanest, alloy ingots for forging? Most metals and alloys, particularly steel, are air melted, meaning no controlled atmosphere is involved. Air melting economically gives alloys those properties needed for less-demanding applications, and many specialty alloys are still air melted today. The
Carbon's Role In The Treatment Of Steel Carbon’s role in the treatment and properties of steel is best explained through a steel’s fabrication and subsequent heat treatment. A plain carbon steel, up to 0.8% carbon, that has been forged and taken directly from the machine, will show a structure of ferrite (iron) and
The Workhorse Of The Stainless Family by Royce Lowe The stainless 300 series might be described as the workhorses of the greater family of stainless steels. As a group, they show better corrosion resistance, toughness, high-temperature strength, and low-temperature properties. They are based on what was called the 18/8 steel, or type 302,
The Importance of Carbon In Steel by Royce Low Carbon is very important in the context of hardness and strength. But in the broader context of steel metallurgy, hardenability is, overall, just as important, if not more so. This property may be defined, simply, as the ability of a steel to harden to
Go With The Flow by Royce Lowe In processes such as open die forging and the production of seamless rolled rings, grain flow is important in that it beneficially affects the mechanical properties and the accompanying service life of the finished forged parts. Grain flow may be defined as the creation of a
Aim High In the final analysis, quality boils down to “what will do the job.” This applies to any size or shape or surface finish or hardness, etc. Which is why the end application of a part is of prime importance, and why it’s so necessary for the supplier to know the end
Selecting The Right Steel For The Job The United States has always been one of the world leaders in the oil and gas business, but with the serious advent of fracking a couple of decades ago, it became the world’s number one producer of crude oil and gas. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is
A Closer Look At Heat Treating and Chemistry In Steel When a forging with around 0.8% carbon comes off the press and is cooled to ambient temperature, it has a microstructure of ferrite plus pearlite; over 0.8% carbon, one of pearlite plus cementite. Ferrite is effectively pure iron, pearlite is ferrite plus cementite. Under
Chemical symbol C, atomic weight 12, atomic number 6 We all know what carbon is, that it exists as charcoal, coal, coke, and after millions of years under extreme pressure, diamonds. But for the most part it’s a dirty, messy, shapeless mass that seems good for nothing apart from being burned or reducing
