Heat Treatment

Heat treatments are used to alter the physical and mechanical properties of metal without changing its shape. They are essential processes in metal manufacturing which increase desirable characteristic of metal, while allowing for further processing to take place.

Common objectives of heat treatment are to:

• Increase strength
• Increase hardness
• Improve toughness
• Improve machining
• Improve formability
• Increase ductility
• Improve elasticity

The cooling stage has different effects depending on the metal and process. When steel is cooled quickly it hardens, whereas the rapid cooling stage of solution annealing will soften aluminum