In both pure metals and many alloys that cannot be heat treated annealing is used to remove the hardness caused by cold working.
Cooling and heating metals.
The process involves heating the metal to a specific temperature then allowing it to cool slowly at a controlled rate.
Annealing alters the physical and chemical properties of the metal to increase ductility and reduce hardness.
In our last blog post we covered the three stages of heat treatment that include heating the metal to a set temperature the heating stage keeping it at that temperature for a specific length of time the soaking stage and cooling it down to room temperature with a method that depends on the type of metal and the desired properties the cooling stage.
The photograph shows how hot it gets.
In ferrous alloys annealing is usually accomplished by heating the metal beyond the upper critical temperature and then cooling very slowly resulting in the formation of pearlite.
A ferrous metal is normally hardened by heating the metal to the required temperature and then cooling it rapidly by plunging the hot metal into a quenching medium such as oil water or brine.
When we pass an electric current through a piece of wire it gets hot.
Most steels must be cooled rapidly to harden them.
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The hardening process increases the hardness and strength of metal but also increases its brittleness.
Annealing is frequently used to soften metals including iron steel copper brass and silver.
Heat treatment is the process of heating and cooling metals to change their microstructure and to bring out the physical and mechanical characteristics that make metals more desirable.
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We can use the same idea to heat up steel in an electric arc furnace.
The temperatures metals are heated to and the rate of cooling after heat treatment can significantly change metal s properties.