Heat Treatment

Heat treatment is a method used to change the physical, and sometimes chemical properties of a material. Its most common application is for metallic materials although heat treatment is also used in the manufacture of many other materials, such as glass. In general heat treatment is heating or cooling a material, usually at extreme temperatures, to achieve a desired result such as hardening or softening of the material. Which includes Heat Treatment Techniques are Annealing, case Hardening, precipitation Strengthening, Tempering and Quenching. It should be noted that although heat treatment is intentionally performed for the purpose of characterizing specifically, where heating and cooling are performed for the purpose of characterizing, heating and cooling often occur coincidentally during other manufacturing processes such as hot forming or welding.

The Process
The metallic material consists of a microstructure in the form of tiny crystals called "grains" or crystallites. Grain properties (i.e. grain size and composition) are one of the most important factors that can determine the overall mechanical properties of a metal. Heat treatment provides an efficient way to manipulate the properties of metals by controlling the rate of diffusion, and the degree of cooling within the microstructure.