For decades, the structure of the steel itself has not changed. Despite this, many manufacturers claim that the quality of their products improved greatly, because of the use of steel of higher quality. The experts say that the modern steel has improved properties, due to the introduction and use of new methods of tempering and treating.
The advanced heat treating is performed in order to add the required physical and mechanical properties to the metal products without changing the chemical composition. The essence of the process consists in heating the metal to a predetermined temperature followed by cooling of the liquid medium. This method can improve the characteristics of steel, thus extending the operation life of the details made of this material, reduce weight of products, increase the values of allowable stresses. The technology provides the following types of metal processing: steel tempering, normalization, annealing and oxiding.
Steel heat treating is performed using the latest high frequency induction heaters, and is based on advanced technologies and developments. Heat treating can also be carried out in muffle and chamber electric furnaces. Heat treatment is an effective way to change the structure of the metal, harden or soften the surface and protect details against the corrosion. To improve the mechanical strength of the upper layer of steel parts the hardening is performed. The most optimal and most often used method is the high-frequency current hardening, which allows to get a different degree of steel details hardness. Hardening systems are designed to increase the strength of the surface of the metal, without any impact on its inner layers. The efficiency of surface heat treating, based on heating the steel surface with high-frequency currents, is particularly noticeable in high-volume and mass production. Among the advantages of this method – the maximum automation of the process, the low deformation, no oxidation of the metal, high-performance of the process.
The process of normalization of metal products involves improving the strength characteristics due to acquisition of a uniform close-grained steel structure. Annealing is performed to reduce the hardness of the metal, which facilitates the subsequent mechanical operation. The type of the annealing is determined by the heating temperature and the rate of metal cooling.
The tempering is performed in order to increase the toughness rate, plasticity and elasticity of the metal surfaces of cutting tools, bearings, springs and other details. Black oxiding is used to increase the hardness of aluminum, nickel, copper and other alloys. Nowadays, numerous companies offer natural, as well as artificial metal oxiding.
Today, there are a lot of different methods of treating, which improve the properties of metals and expand the spheres of their application. The quality of the metal structure depends directly on the conditions in which the treatment is performed. Therefore, all operations, connected with the metal treating should be carried out in a specialized production conditions.
