What is Tempering Process? How To?
The tempering process is a heat treatment applied to gain the desired hardness and mechanical properties. Heat treatment is applied to medium and high carbon alloy steels with high hardenability. With this method, the hardness and durability of the material is increased. The tempering process is a type of heat treatment called "Quench and Temper" in English. This method consists of three stages. First, the hardening process is carried out. Then, tempering process is applied to the material. Applying these processes consecutively is defined as a breeding process.
Stages of the Correction Process:
In the first stage, the hardening process is applied to the material. In the hardening process, the steel is heated until it reaches the hardening temperature, that is, the austenite area. After the workpiece is heated in the austenite zone, it is kept at this temperature. At this stage, the workpiece is cooled in an oil and polymer bath to obtain a martensitic structure. In order for the workpiece to obtain a martensitic structure, the material must be cooled above a certain speed in the austenite region. This process is called quenching. The quenching medium varies depending on the alloy amount of the material. While water and salt baths are chosen for low alloy materials, oil is preferred for medium alloy materials. The material obtained after quenching is very hard and brittle. Internal stresses occur during sudden cooling. In order to eliminate the internal stress of martensite, which has a brittle structure, tempering process must be carried out. Tempering is the process of reheating the material and cooling it by keeping it at the same temperature for a certain period of time. Temperature and time values in the tempering process vary depending on the material type and desired hardness. After the tempering process, the brittleness of the material is reduced and the stresses within the material are eliminated. With the tempering process, the toughness value of the material increases and the hardness level decreases.
Benefits of the Conditioning Process:
By applying the reforming process, the desired strength and hardness values can be achieved. Therefore, it reduces material and processing costs for the manufacturer and enables rapid production. With the reclamation process, the material is given properties such as high wear resistance, high strength, high fatigue resistance, high fatigue resistance, high hardness and high stability. The tempering process can be applied to all steels containing 0.3% and above carbon. https://www.aht.com.tr/