Heat treating or tempering metal has many useful benefits. Primarily heat treating is used to enhance the properties found in the metal. This quick guide will provide you with some important information on heat tempering metal and the effects tempering can have.
What Is Tempering?
Tempering is a process used to treat metal with heat. This process is used to enhance the metal. Many changes can occur in the metal once it has been tempered. These changes make the metal easier to work with or more suitable for a particular application.
Why Tempering Process Is Important?
If you are wondering why is tempering steel important, we can explain. The tempering process is important because most metal is not fit to be used in many applications before tempering. Metal is an organic substance that is taken from the ground. There can be a number of impurities in the metal when it is raw. Even after some processing, metal may not be ready for certain applications. In order to get the metal ready for use, it needs to be tempered or treated.
What Is the Effect of Tempering a Metal
Tempering a metal will have several effects on the metal. Some effects can include:
- Softening
- Hardening
- Homogenize plastic injection
- Remove stress from metal
- Add resilience
Does Tempering Increase Strength?
One of the main reasons why metal should be treated is to increase strength. It should be noted though, that when you are dealing with metal, strength and toughness are opposing. If you increase the metal’s strength, you could also reduce its durability. In essence, the metal will become brittle.
Why Would Tempering Be Used?
Tempering is often used after the quenching operation. After the quenching process, tempering is necessary in order to restore ductility.
Tempering is also useful when relieving a welded component’s stress. Welds will cause a localized zone that is hardened from the welding process. This can cause unwanted stress and possible cracking. Tempering can solve this problem.
Sometimes materials can become work hardened. This means that the material is hardened through other processes such as punching, bending, forming, drilling and rolling. This will cause the material to have a high level of stress. You can relieve this stress with tempering.
It is important to consult with professionals to have metal tempered properly. Improperly tempered materials can cause a safety hazard. Professionals can also guide you on what treatment will be right for your projects.