Technical reference
Processes & heat treatment
How forging, annealing, normalizing, quenching and tempering, and thread rolling change steel properties.
Annealing
Annealing heats steel to a set temperature, holds it and cools it slowly to make it softer, more ductile and easier to machine or cold form.
Read the reference →Normalizing
Normalizing heats steel above its upper critical temperature and lets it cool in still air to give a fine, uniform ferrite–pearlite structure.
Read the reference →Quenching and tempering
Quenching and tempering hardens steel by cooling it rapidly from the austenite range to form martensite, then reheats it below Ac1 to trade some hardness for toughness.
Read the reference →Hot and cold forging
Forging shapes steel by compressing it between dies, either hot above its recrystallization temperature or cold at room temperature.
Read the reference →Rolled vs cut threads
A rolled thread is cold formed by pressing hardened dies into a blank, while a cut thread is machined by removing metal.
Read the reference →