Historically, the processing of metals possesses one of the key domains in materials science. Materials science is one of the oldest forms of engineering and applied science, and the material of choice in a given era is often a defining point (e.g., Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age). Processing metals involves the production of alloys, the shaping, the heat treatment, and the surface treatment of the product. Determining the hardness of the metal using the Rockwell, Vickers, and Brinell hardness scales is a commonly used practice that helps better understand the metal’s elasticity and plasticity for different applications and production processes. The task of material engineers is to achieve a balance between material properties such as cost, weight, strength, toughness, hardness, corrosion, fatigue resistance, and performance in temperature extremes. The operating environment must be carefully considered to achieve this goal. In a saltwater environment, ferrous metals and some aluminium alloys corrode quickly. Metals exposed to cold or cryogenic conditions may endure a ductile to brittle transition and lose their toughness, becoming more brittle and prone to cracking. Metals under continual cyclic loading can suffer from metal fatigue. Metals under constant stress at elevated temperatures can creep.
Heat Treatment of Metals
Metals can be heat treated to alter the properties of strength, ductility, toughness, hardness, or resistance to corrosion. Many phenomena occur in metals and alloys at elevated temperatures. For example, recrystallization and the decomposition of austenite. These are effective in altering the mechanical characteristics when appropriate heat treatments or thermal processes are used. The use of heat treatments on commercial alloys is an exceedingly common practice. Common heat treatment processes include annealing, precipitation hardening, quenching, and tempering.
- Annealing. The term annealing refers to a heat treatment in which a material is exposed to an elevated temperature for an extended period and then slowly cooled. In this process, metal gets rid of stresses and makes the grain structure large and soft-edged so that when the metal is hit or stressed, it dents or perhaps bends rather than breaking; it is also easier to sand, and grind, or cut, anneal the metal.
- Quenching. Quenching refers to a heat treatment in which a material is rapidly cooled in water, oil, or air to obtain certain material properties, especially hardness. In metallurgy, quenching is commonly used to harden steel by introducing martensite. There is a balance between hardness and toughness in any steel; the harder the steel, the less tough or impact-resistant it is, and the more impact-resistant it is, the less hard it is.
- Tempering. The term tempering refers to a heat treatment used to increase the toughness of iron-based alloys. Tempering is usually performed after hardening to reduce some of the excess hardness. It is done by heating the metal to some temperature below the critical point for a certain period, then allowing it to cool in still air. Tempering makes the metal less hard while enabling it to sustain impacts without breaking. Tempering will cause the dissolved alloying elements to precipitate, or in the case of quenched steels, improve impact strength and ductile properties.
- Aging. Age hardening, also called precipitation hardening or particle hardening is a heat treatment technique based on the formation of extremely small, uniformly dispersed particles of a second phase within the original phase matrix to enhance The strength and hardness of some metal alloys. Precipitation hardening increases the yield strength of malleable materials, including most structural alloys of aluminium, magnesium, nickel, titanium, some steel, and stainless steel. In superalloys, it is known to cause yield strength anomaly providing excellent high-temperature strength.
