WHAT IS QUENCHING?
WHAT IS QUENCHING? Heat treatment is a popular way to alter the mechanical properties of certain metals. Being able to change the hardness, toughness, and strength of a metal while keeping its chemical composition intact and virtually unaltered is a great way to tailor a metal to the needs of the environment and the demands of the job in which [...]
PIPE SCHEDULE CHART
PIPE SCHEDULE CHART When working with pipe, it is common to describe them by their “schedule”. Someone unfamiliar with pipe schedules may not understand how to determine the measurements. A pipe schedule is a non-dimensional number that relates to the thickness of the wall and affects the inside diameter. It is used to help classify pipes for high or low [...]
WHAT IS NORMALIZING?
WHAT IS NORMALIZING? It is important that the material used for any project possesses the correct mechanical properties for the specific application. Heat Treatment processes are often used to alter the mechanical properties of a metal, with one of the more common heat treatment processes being Normalizing. What Is Normalizing? Normalizing is a heat treatment process that is used [...]
WHAT IS AN ALLOY?
WHAT IS AN ALLOY? An alloy is a combination of a metal with at least one other metal or nonmetal. The combination must be part of a solid solution, a compound, or a mixture with another metal or nonmetal in order for it to be considered an alloy. The most common way to combine metals into an alloy is by [...]
WHAT IS TEMPERING?
WHAT IS TEMPERING? Tempering is a heat treatment process that alters the mechanical properties (typically ductility and hardness) and relieves internal stresses of a steel. Tempering allows carbon trapped in a martensitic microstructure to disperse, and enables the internal stresses to be released from the steel that may have been created from prior operations. The Tempering Process Tempering is [...]
WHAT IS METAL FATIGUE?
WHAT IS METAL FATIGUE? Metal fatigue is one of the subtlest types of metal failures, and one of the most dangerous. Although metal failure can occur from excessive tensile loads, shear loads and impact loads, to name a few, metal fatigue is a failure type that can go unnoticed right up until the point when it is too late. [...]