Heat Treatment Solutions

Heat Treatment Services

We also provide custom heat treatment services to help customers achieve exact material hardness specifications for their projects. By modifying the internal microstructure of metal components, this process enhances key properties, such as hardness, ductility, tensile strength, and wear resistance—without altering the final external shape.

The Core Process Steps

1.Heating Phase:Controlled thermal ramp.

The component is brought to a specific transformation temperature in a controlled furnace atmosphere (vacuum, inert gas, or endothermic gas to prevent surface oxidation and decarburization). The ramp rate is controlled to minimize thermal shock and distortion.

2.Soaking (Holding) Phase:Temperature stabilization.

The metal is held at target temperature for a predetermined dwell time (typically calculated as 1 hour per inch of maximum cross-sectional thickness). This allows the temperature to homogenize throughout the core and gives the internal crystal structure time to fully transition into the desired phase (e.g., austenite in carbon steels).

3.Cooling Phase:Quenching or controlled cooling.

The material is cooled at a rate dictated by the desired metallurgical outcome. Rapid cooling (quenching in water, oil, polymer, or high-pressure gas) traps the microstructural state to lock in maximum hardness. Slow furnace or air cooling allows atoms to rearrange into softer, more ductile structures.

Specifications

Heat-Treating Methods
Method	Temperature Profile	Cooling Rate	Primary Objective	Typical Outcome
Hardening	Above critical temperature (Ac3)	Rapid (Quench)	Maximize surface and core hardness	High yield strength, increased wear resistance; high brittleness
Tempering	Below critical temperature (Ac1)	Air cool	Relieve quench stress, restore toughness	Controlled hardness reduction, drastically improved impact toughness
Annealing	Above critical temperature	Very slow (Furnace)	Soften metal, refine grain structure	Maximum ductility, minimum yield strength for easy machining
Normalizing	~50°C above critical temperature	Moderate (Air)	Uniform internal grain structure	Relieves residual stress from forging/machining, improves machinability
Case Hardening	Carburizing / Nitriding bath	Rapid	High hard shell with ductile core	Extreme surface wear resistance with fatigue-resistant tough core

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