Metal Hardening in Plymouth, MI
Hardening Heat Treatment Tailored to Meet Your Needs
Instead of dealing with unreliable metal parts, explore the options of hardening. Metal hardening brings out the potential strength of metal, creating a more useful piece that you can count on. The hardening process results in additional degrees of toughness. In the end, you will have a more durable metal piece that is better able to stand up against tough work.
The Process of Hardening: Adding Strength Through Heating and Quenching
Hardening begins by heating alloys beyond the critical transformation temperature (specific to each material), then cooling it quickly causes the softened material to become harder and stronger. There are various cooling options available, including air-cooling and quench-cooling in substances like oil, water, or other liquids depending on the chemical composition of the metal. Additional tempering and stress relief processes take place once hardening is complete. These two added processes improve the stability and toughness of the hardened unit.
For hardening steel specifically, it is necessary to hold the material at a set temperature for an extended amount of time. Once the steel alloy has been heated to its normalizing temperature, it must be held there for one hour per inch of thickness until all pearlite transforms into austenite before quenching the material. The quenching step stops the transformation completing the hardening process and introducing stress. Then tempering finalizes the hardness and removes the stress.
Neutral Hardening Provides Added Control
Aside from traditional hardening is the process of neutral hardening. Some parts do not allow for decarburization of the surface of a material; this is where neutral hardening is useful. Neutral hardening is a process that keeps any new elements from infusing a material’s surface. In this case, the material is kept in an atmosphere with no gain or loss of carbon, nitrogen, or any other elements.
Experience the RMT Advantage with Metal Hardening
The family-owned heat treating experts at RMT have been in the business for 50 years. Our state-of-the-art furnaces and high-volume capabilities allow for continuous production to keep your project on schedule. Our high-quality standards help us maintain industry standards and public health certifications of IATF, CQI-9, and NSF.