For through-hardened steels, in order to achieve a good and true hardness result, it is necessary to test the substrate material by grinding beneath the oxide and decarburized layer.

Hardness testing determines the success of the heat-treatment procedure and the material’s response to that heat treatment. The results of a hardness test can indicate...

Here is the third and final installment of David Pye's blog series on safety in the heat-treat workplace.

Quite a large number of both captive and commercial plants have integral-quench furnaces, which are used for atmosphere heat-treatment procedures such as carburizing, carbonitriding and neutral hard-ening. More often than not, the furnaces are filled with combustible atmospheres and an internal quench tank of specialty quench oil. 

Safety in the workplace regarding heat treatment connects each and every person who works in either a captive or a commercial shop. We all have an obligation to one another to minimize the risk of accidents and injuries (no matter how minimal or extensive that injury might be). 
 

The cause of the retained austenite can be attributed to the following conditions...

If the material is low on hardness or even totally soft, it is usually incorrect material. This can have occurred either by selection at the merchant or mixed at the purchaser’s operation.

This blog series is designed to help you troubleshoot your heat-treatment problem. It will show you how to be effective, efficient and logical in your troubleshooting and help you determine if the problem is process, material, design or control.

David Pye's series on normalizing forged aerospace components concludes with part 5.

We continue our discussion of normalizing.