Manufacturing capability
Tempering
Tempering is a heat treatment process used to adjust the hardness, toughness, and mechanical behavior of previously hardened steel components. It is commonly applied to gears, shafts, springs, tools, and industrial mechanical parts requiring a controlled balance between strength and resistance to brittle failure.
Related process: Heat Treatment
Manufacturing overview
Tempering generally involves reheating hardened steel to a temperature below its critical transformation range, holding it for a defined period, and cooling it under controlled conditions.
The process modifies the hardened microstructure and reduces certain internal stresses generated during quenching.
Typical applications include hardened gears, shafts, cutting tools, springs, dies, and mechanical wear components.
Suitable materials include carbon steel, alloy steel, tool steel, and other steels compatible with the selected hardening and tempering cycle.
Final properties depend on chemical composition, prior hardening conditions, tempering temperature, holding time, and component dimensions.
Tempering is commonly included in quench-and-temper treatments used to achieve specified strength and toughness.
Excessively high tempering temperatures may reduce hardness beyond the required specification, making process control essential.
Buyers should specify material grade, initial heat treatment condition, target hardness, mechanical properties, dimensions, quantity, and applicable standard.
Quality requirements may include Rockwell or Vickers hardness testing, mechanical testing, microstructural verification, and dimensional inspection.
Metraxio supports tempering RFQs for components requiring controlled post-hardening mechanical properties.