Trading a little hardness for a lot of toughness, in line with the hardening machine.
A part straight out of a quench is at its hardest and its most brittle. The martensite formed during quenching is a highly strained structure holding a great deal of internal stress. Left as it is, the part will resist wear beautifully and then crack the first time it is shocked.
Tempering reheats the part to a temperature well below the austenitising range and holds it there. Some of the trapped carbon precipitates out, the internal stresses relax, and the structure becomes tougher. Hardness drops a little; toughness rises a great deal. The temperature chosen sets where on that trade the part ends up.
Induction tempering applies the same coil-placed heat to this step. Because it is fast and local, it can be built into the same machine as the hardening operation, so a part is hardened, quenched and tempered in a single flow rather than accumulated into batches for a tempering oven.
In line: hardening and tempering in one machine, so parts do not queue for an oven and work in progress does not pile up.
Selective: temper only the region that was hardened.
Fast: an induction temper takes a fraction of the time an oven soak does, though the cycle must still be long enough for the structure to respond.
We will confirm the configuration for your material, component geometry and production requirements.
Tempering is governed by time as well as temperature, and the two trade against each other. A short induction cycle generally needs a somewhat higher temperature than a long oven soak to reach the same result. The cycle has to be developed against the part and verified by hardness testing, not assumed.
We can integrate tempering after quenching to reduce transfer delays and keep the process under consistent control. We develop the cycle for your material and required properties.
Send a drawing, the material, the case depth or temperature you need, and your production rate. Our engineers will help define the right machine for your process.
