Annealing
Carried out in one of our air circulating or muffle furnaces.
A thermal process to soften metal components and make them more ductile and easier to work. By annealing at a temperature higher than the tempering temperature it is possible to temper out any hardness from a previous heat treatment process although, be advised, any dimensional accuracy will be removed.
For ferrous materials we offer a choice of three annealing processes:
- Sub critical anneal with no change to the microstructure by heating to between 540°c and 650°c.
- Intermediate anneal with some micro structure transformation to austenite by heating to between 650°c and 760°c.
- Full anneal with full transformation to austenite by heating to between 815°c and 925°c
All cycles are followed by furnaces cooling, in air where the surface finish is not critical as it will oxidize or in a neutral gas atmosphere to prevent oxidization and decarburization.
Non-ferrous materials are annealed using the same process with temperatures dependent on the material used. On some materials the annealed condition can be improved by rapidly quenching in water.
Bright Annealing
Using our air circulating furnaces with an inert atmosphere or our vacuum furnaces.
The same as annealing but with no oxygen in the heat treatment atmosphere to cause oxidization the component retains its bright surface finish.
