How does heating the metal affects its properties? Heat can affect the electrical, magnetic, and structural properties of metals. Since metal has a wide range of uses, various conditions emphasize different attributes. Toughness is required in industrial applications, whereas low electrical density is significant in electronic applications. There are many methods of heating metal that are [...]
WHAT IS CREEP? Creep is a topic in metallurgy that can be quite confusing; while not common knowledge to many people, the subject of creep is one that those in charge of selecting metals must be aware of. Creep is a type of deformation, and metals that undergo excessive creep deformation can oftentimes fail completely. Unfortunately, [...]
WELDING PROCESSES FOR STAINLESS STEEL Warped metal, charcoal-colored welds, and frustration; these are some of the things that can happen when welding stainless steel. While it contains similar elements to that of carbon steel, stainless steel has the addition of alloying elements such as chromium and molybdenum, and that presents an altogether different set of challenges [...]
WHAT IS A FERROUS METAL? There are many different categories into which metals can be placed. Some metals may be ductile, some may be brittle. Other metals could be magnetic, and some have no magnetism at all. Some types of alloys can be precipitation hardened, and others cannot. The aforementioned are important distinctions; however, when categorizing [...]
WHAT IS QUENCHING? Heat treatment is a popular way to alter the mechanical properties of certain metals. Being able to change the hardness, toughness, and strength of a metal while keeping its chemical composition intact and virtually unaltered is a great way to tailor a metal to the needs of the environment and the demands of [...]
PIPE SCHEDULE CHART When working with pipe, it is common to describe them by their “schedule”. Someone unfamiliar with pipe schedules may not understand how to determine the measurements. A pipe schedule is a non-dimensional number that relates to the thickness of the wall and affects the inside diameter. It is used to help classify pipes [...]
WHAT IS NORMALIZING? It is important that the material used for any project possesses the correct mechanical properties for the specific application. Heat Treatment processes are often used to alter the mechanical properties of a metal, with one of the more common heat treatment processes being Normalizing. What Is Normalizing? Normalizing is a heat treatment [...]
WHAT IS AN ALLOY? An alloy is a combination of a metal with at least one other metal or nonmetal. The combination must be part of a solid solution, a compound, or a mixture with another metal or nonmetal in order for it to be considered an alloy. The most common way to combine metals into [...]
WHAT IS TEMPERING? Tempering is a heat treatment process that alters the mechanical properties (typically ductility and hardness) and relieves internal stresses of a steel. Tempering allows carbon trapped in a martensitic microstructure to disperse, and enables the internal stresses to be released from the steel that may have been created from prior operations. The [...]
WHAT IS METAL FATIGUE? Metal fatigue is one of the subtlest types of metal failures, and one of the most dangerous. Although metal failure can occur from excessive tensile loads, shear loads and impact loads, to name a few, metal fatigue is a failure type that can go unnoticed right up until the point when it [...]