HEAT TREATMENT

Heat treatment is an operation or combination of operations involving heating of metal or alloy in the solid state at a specific rate , soaking at a temperature for a period of time and cooling at some specified rate . The aim is to obtain a desired microstructure to achieve certain predetermined properties ( physical , mechanical , magnetic or electrical ) .

CLASSIFICATION OF HEAT TREATMENT

Purpose of heat treatment :
To improve the mechanical properties
To improve the machinability
To increase wear resistance
To modify electrical & magnetic properties
To produce hard surface & soft inner core
To relieve internal (residual ) stress due to mechanical working