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Depending on the temperature and composition of the steel, it can be hardened or softened. To make steel harder, it must be heated to very high temperatures. The final result of exactly how hard the steel becomes depends on the amount of carbon present in the metal. Only steel that is high in carbon can be hardened and tempered.
Martensitic transformation, more commonly known as quenching and tempering, is a hardening mechanism specific for steel. The steel must be heated to a temperature where the iron phase changes from ferrite into austenite, i.e. changes crystal structure from BCC (body-centered cubic) to FCC (face-centered cubic). In austenitic form, steel can ...
To harden by quenching, a metal (usually steel or cast iron) must be heated above the upper critical temperature (Steel: above 815~900 degrees Celsius [23]) and then quickly cooled. Depending on the alloy and other considerations (such as concern for maximum hardness vs. cracking and distortion), cooling may be done with forced air or other ...
Diagram of a cross section of a katana, showing the typical arrangement of the harder and softer zones. Differential hardening (also called differential quenching, selective quenching, selective hardening, or local hardening) is most commonly used in bladesmithing to increase the toughness of a blade while keeping very high hardness and strength at the edge.
Case-hardening or carburization is the process of introducing carbon to the surface of a low-carbon iron, or more commonly a low-carbon steel object, in order to harden the surface. Iron which has a carbon content greater than ~0.02% is known as steel .
Precipitation hardening, also called age hardening or particle hardening, is a heat treatment technique used to increase the yield strength of malleable materials, including most structural alloys of aluminium, magnesium, nickel, titanium, and some steels, stainless steels, and duplex stainless steel.
When a hot steel work-piece is quenched, the area in contact with the water immediately cools and its temperature equilibrates with the quenching medium.The inner depths of the material however, do not cool so rapidly, and in work-pieces that are large, the cooling rate may be slow enough to allow the austenite to transform fully into a structure other than martensite or bainite.
Schematic cutaway view of a diffusion hardened metal gear. Diffusion hardening is a process used in manufacturing that increases the hardness of steels.In diffusion hardening, diffusion occurs between a steel with a low carbon content and a carbon-rich environment to increase the carbon content of the steel and ultimately harden the workpiece.