There are five basic processes regarding heat treatment: hardening, case hardening, annealing, normalizing and tempering. All of those processes involve three steps which are heating, soaking and cooling. We will discuss the process of annealing on this page.
Annealing heat treatment
Annealing is part of the heat treatment process. It alters the microstructure of materials and with that, it changes its mechanical and electrical properties. Annealing is used to reduce hardness, increase ductility and it helps to eliminate internal stresses.
The process
Every kind of metal will be annealed at different temperatures. The temperature varies between the 800ºC and 950ºC. Those rates differ a lot from each other as every sort of metal need to be heated to a prescribed temperature and stay at this specific temperature for a certain amount of time. After this, the metal will be cooled back down in a very slow or rapidly rate till room temperature is reached again. This cooling process will produce maximum softness of the material. With the help of furnace cooling the material is allowed to cool down.
Drawbacks of annealing heat treatment
During annealing heat treatment the process of internal stress relieve takes place. The residual stresses can exceed the material its design limitation. This will lead to welding failures, de-carbonisation, scaling or de-oxidation. This causes cracking potential and increased chances on fractures in the material. The duration of the treatment is based on the alloying composition, previous set treatments and the materials the object is made of.
Why treat your materials with annealing?
The annealing process in mainly used for steel, but can also be used for copper, aluminum and brass. Metals can undergo annealing heat treatment to relieve their internal stresses. The treatment also softens the metal and it refines their grain structures. By letting the material undergo annealing heat treatment, the machinability of the material will be improved. Next to this, the electrical conductivity will be enhanced and the ductility will be restored.
About Delta Heat Services
Delta Heat Services is specialist in on-site heat treatment. Our approach is flexible as we can offer you multiple types of services. We strive to provide you equipment made of the highest quality. Delta Heat Services executes different types of projects in the petrochemical industry. Besides that, big construction projects are carried out by our experienced technicians.
Would you like to make use of our annealing heat treatment? Would you like more information about the possibilties we offer? Please get in contact with us.
