BasicHeatTreatment(热处理基本知识).docVIP

CHAPTER 2 BASIC HEAT TREATMENT As Steelworkers, we are interested in the heat treatment of metals, because we have to know what effects the heat produced by welding or cutting has on metal. We also need to know the methods used to restore metal to its original condition. The process of heat treating is the method by which metals are heated and cooled in a series of specific operations that never allow the metal to reach the molten state. The purpose of heat treating is to make a metal more useful by changing or restoring its mechanical properties. Through heat treating, we can make a metal harder, stronger, and more resistant to impact. Also, heat treating can make a metal softer and more ductile. The one disadvantage is that no heat-treating procedure can produce all of these characteristics in one operation. Some properties are improved at the expense of others; for example, hardening a metal may make it brittle. HEAT-TREATING THEORY The various types of heat-treating processes are similar because they all involve the heating and cooling of metals; they differ in the heating temperatures and the cooling rates used and the final results. The usual methods of heat-treating ferrous metals (metals with iron) are annealing, normalizing, hardening, and tempering. Most nonferrous metals can be annealed, but never tempered, normalized, or case-hardened. Successful heat treatment requires close control over all factors affecting the heating and cooling of a metal. This control is possible only when the proper equipment is available. The furnace must be of the proper size and type and controlled, so the temperatures are kept within the prescribed limits for each operation. Even the furnace atmosphere affects the condition of the metal being heat-treated. The furnace atmosphere consists of the gases that circulate throughout the heating chamber and surround the metal, as it is being heated. In an electric furnace, the atmosphere is eith