The process of heat treatment

The process of heat treatment

Heat treatment process generally includes three heating, heat preservation, cooling process, sometimes only two heating and cooling process. The process to connect to each other, completely.
Heating is one of the important process of heat treatment. Heating of metal heat treatment method are many, the first is to use charcoal and coal as a heat source, in the application of liquid and gas fuel. The application of electric heating is easy to control, and no environmental pollution. The heat source can be used to direct heating, but can be by molten salt or metal, and floating particles with indirect heating.
Metal heating workpiece when it is exposed to the air, often occur oxidation and decarburization (that is, the surface carbon content lower) steel parts, the performance on the surface of the parts after heat treatment have a bad effect. Thus metals usually should be in a controlled atmosphere or protective atmosphere, molten salt and a vacuum heating, coating or packing method to protect the heating is also available.
The heating temperature is one of the important process parameters of heat treatment process, selection and control of heating temperature, is a major problem to ensure the quality of heat treatment. Heating temperature is processed and varies the purpose of the metal material and heat treatment, but is usually heated to above phase transition temperature, in order to obtain high temperature. Another change will take time, so when the heating temperature of metal surface is achieved, still must in the temperature keeping time, make internal and external temperature, the microstructure change completely, this paragraph of time is called the heat preservation time. Heating with high energy density and surface heat treatment and heating speed, generally there is no heat preservation time, and the chemical heat treatment of heat preservation time tend to be long. Cooling is indispensable in the process of heat treatment process steps, cooling method for craft different and different, main is to control the cooling rate. General annealing cooling speed of the slowest, normalizing the cooling speed faster, quenching cooling speed is faster. But also with different steel grade have different requirements, such as empty hard steel can be hardened by normalizing the same cooling rate.