Heat Treatments: Carburizing
Carburizing is a thermo-chemical process used to increase the wear resistance of mechanical components such as gears. By enriching the surface layer of steel with carbon, the highest achievable hardness…
Heat Treatments: Nitriding
Nitriding is a thermo-chemical surface hardening treatment applied to steels—and other alloys as well—aimed at combating abrasive, adhesive, and erosive wear, rolling/sliding contact, and mechanical or thermomechanical fatigue. This process…
Deformations and Dimensional Changes During Heat Treatment
During the heat treatments of special steels – such as quenching, tempering, or annealing – it is common to observe deformations and dimensional changes. Understanding their causes is essential to…
Heat Treatments: Preliminary Precautions for the Die Maker
Before submitting a die to heat treatments, the die maker should adopt a series of preliminary precautions to prevent structural defects and ensure maximum component performance. Defects such as cracking,…
Heat Treatments: Quenching and Tempering
Quenching and tempering is one of the most important heat treatments for steels, consisting of quenching followed by one or more tempering steps, used to achieve an excellent balance between…
Heat Treatments: Annealing
In industrial heat treatments, the word annealing is widely used, yet it actually covers several distinct variants. Each variant serves a precise purpose, linked to the material and to the…
Heat Treatments: The Heart of Special Steel Performance
Even with the best possible chemical composition, a special steel cannot reach its full potential without proper heat treatment. It's through heat treatments that the steel's internal structure is "sculpted,"…
The Jominy Test: How Alloying Elements Increase Steel Hardenability
After individually analyzing the alloying elements (Carbon, Chromium, Molybdenum, Nickel, Vanadium, etc.), it's time to see their concrete effect on the hardenability of special steels, meaning their ability to generate…
Alloying Elements: Tungsten
Tungsten, also known as Wolfram (W), is a hard, heavy transition metal with a color ranging from white to steel-gray. With an atomic number of 74, Tungsten was one of…
Alloying Elements: Manganese
Manganese (Mn) is a lustrous, silvery-gray transition metal, similar to iron in color. It's very hard and brittle, resembling chromium in these characteristics. With an atomic number of 25 in…
