Hardening of steel - an old technology for modern materials

For a long time man used the procedure of hardening of metalware, which were necessary for him in everyday life. Whether it was cold weapons or tools for agricultural work, everything required increased strength. Therefore, people have a need to invent such a process, as a result of which the metal would become stronger and firmer, and its plasticity at the same time would decrease. And a way of processing metal products was found. Hardening of steel - this is its name. To acquire the necessary qualities, the metal undergoes heating and subsequent cooling during the quenching process.

When stainless steel appeared, it became necessary to improve the methods and methods by which metal was processed. Thermal treatment has started to develop in a new way, thanks to which today steel hardening (stainless) makes it possible to obtain new materials of higher quality.

Martensitic stainless steel is the type of steel to which the hardening process is mainly applied. Its usual state is increased hardness, however it differs in that it tends to show brittleness. The use of heat treatment with rapid tempering contributes to an increase in the coefficient of viscosity, which characterizes this type of steel as one of the most demanded metals.

In the work with stainless steel, the following types of hardening are distinguished: it is a global view, when the product heats up completely, and local, where partial hardening of those parts that are necessary is used. In addition, in such a process, as hardening of steel, various cooling techniques are used. It directly depends on what brand of stainless steel. Basically for these purposes, alkali and salt oils are used. Water as a cooling medium is rarely used.

Depending on what kind of product form, as well as the brand of metal, it is used and various methods of steel quenching. There are graded quenching isothermal and hardening with self-release.

The main parameters of the process are heating (temperature) and cooling (speed). And the speed with which the steel will be cooled, being heated to the right temperature, will affect the results of the hardening itself. The main technical problem of the process is the choice of the optimum temperature, in view of the fact that when overheating the stainless steel can lose hydrocarbon, which will lead to a decrease in its strength. In order to avoid residual stress in the internal structure of hardened metal products, additional mechanical processing methods should be applied. For example, step-by-step cooling, where the temperature drop will be gradual. This method of hardening is good for manufacturing those blanks that are designed to produce a heavy-duty tool.

There is also a surface hardening of steel. It does not take much time, unlike the chemical-thermal treatment, which makes it possible to automate the technological process. With this method of performing the hardening process, it will be necessary to fabricate its inductor and select its treatment mode for each individual part. Surface hardening is suitable for the production of parts of the same type (mass production), for example, in the automotive industry.

Thus, for the production of high-quality rolled metal, which would have a combination of strength, viscosity and plasticity in the required proportions, it is necessary to apply a unique process called "hardening of steel" to the metal products. And although the steel is stainless and is one of the best materials of our time, nevertheless, the technology, which allows to improve its quality, came to us from far antiquity.