subject: Heat Treatment: Essential In Metallurgy [print this page] Material Sciences is one of the major constituent of modern day physics and even chemistry or physical sciences as a whole. In the same way metallurgy is an important and makes a major part of material sciences. Metallurgy is the study of physical and chemical properties of metals, and in the total realm of metallurgy, intermetallic compounds and intermetallic mixtures, also known as alloys, are also studied to unearth their physical and chemical properties. It is also described as the technology for metals and its various derivatives. By technology we mean to say how theoretical sciences are put to use in the practical and physical world. Being the technology of metals, metallurgy is the base of all metalworking crafts.
Going by the definition in the dictionary, the word metallurgy comes from a Greek word called metallurgia. The word comes by conjoining two words metallon, which means metal and a case sensitive ergos, which means working. Hence, it can be deduced that metallurgy means metal working. Whenever we try to visualize metal working, it is almost archetypal that most of us would think about hot red lava like molten metal boiling or being poured down in a blast furnace. And almost simultaneously we also imagine the immense heat generated in such places. We all know that a lot of heat is needed to melt down metal. The required minimum temperature for melting any metal will go into thousands of degrees in centigrade. But the role of heat is not just confined within the limits of just melting the metal. It goes beyond that. Heat is also an important part in later stages also when the liquid metal is cooled down to take various shapes. Actually there is a separate process in metallurgy and a very common process called heat treatment.
Heat treatment is a process to make alterations in the physical aspect of any material, sometimes it is also used sometimes to change the chemical properties also. But the most common use of heat treatment is in metal works or metallurgy. Very interestingly, in non metallic materials, heat treatment is used in the manufacturing of glass products. Heating or chilling are the main activities involved in this treatment. These processes need to be performed in extreme temperatures. This is done so that the material involved can be modified as desired, like making the material harder or softer. A heat treatment company have a series of techniques These processes can be listed as
Annealing
Case Hardening
Precipitation Strengthening
Tempering
Quenching
We can see that heat treatment as a process would need heating and cooling of metals, for very specific requirements to change their physical and sometimes chemical properties. But, as a matter of fact heating and cooling take place in other parts of metallurgy too, but those heating and cooling procedures are not included in the heat treatment sector of metal works. Examples of such other activities practiced by the heat treatment company are processes like welding or hot forming. Alloys are often used for their mechanical properties; by using complex heat treatment procedures metal workers increase this property of alloys. A superalloy, which is used in the aerospace industry, sometimes has to undergo five or even more different heat treatments to get the desired results.
by: John Samual
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