What is Heat Treatment

Heat treatment is a metallurgical process that transforms material properties through controlled heating and cooling cycles. By exposing metals to specific temperatures, engineers can enhance hardness, strength, and durability while reducing brittleness. This critical manufacturing technique includes annealing, quenching, and tempering methods, each tailored to achieve desired mechanical characteristics. Heat treatment improves wear resistance, extends component lifespan, and optimizes performance across industries—from automotive and aerospace to industrial machinery. Precision temperature control ensures consistent quality and reliability, making heat treatment indispensable for modern engineering applications.

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Core services

Anebon offers a diverse range of heat treatment processes to meet the needs of different materials and applications.

Quenching treatment

Process Description: The metal is heated above its critical temperature, held at that temperature, and then rapidly cooled to obtain a martensitic structure.

Application Effects: Significantly improves the hardness and strength of materials, suitable for tool steels, bearing steels, and other parts requiring high hardness.

Temperature Range: 800-950°C

Tempering

Process Description: The quenched workpiece is reheated to below the critical temperature, held at that temperature, and then cooled.

Application Effects: Reduces internal stress, improves toughness, eliminates quenching brittleness, and achieves an ideal balance of strength and toughness.

Temperature Range: 150-650°C

Annealing

Process Description: Heat the metal to a suitable temperature, hold it at that temperature for a certain time, and then slowly cool it.

Application Effects: Reduces hardness, improves machinability, eliminates residual stress, refines grains, and improves microstructure.

Temperature Range: 600-800°C

Normalizing Treatment

Process Description: Heat the steel to above the critical temperature, hold at that temperature, and then cool in air.

Application Effects: Refines grain size, improves microstructure uniformity, enhances mechanical properties, and prepares the material for subsequent processing.

Temperature Range: 850-950°C

Carburizing treatment

Process Description: Low-carbon steel is heated and held in a carbon-rich medium, allowing carbon atoms to penetrate the surface layer.

Application Effects: High surface hardness and wear resistance, while maintaining core toughness; suitable for gears and shaft parts.

Depth Control: 0.5-2.0mm

Nitriding treatment

Process Description: Heating in an ammonia atmosphere causes nitrogen atoms to penetrate the steel surface, forming a nitrided layer.

Application Effects: Extremely high surface hardness, excellent wear resistance and corrosion resistance, and minimal deformation.

Temperature Range: 500-580°C

Cryogenic treatment

Process Description: Cool the workpiece to a low temperature of -80°C to -196°C to eliminate residual austenite.

Application Effects: Improves dimensional stability, increases wear resistance, and extends material lifespan.

Temperature Range: -80°C to -196°C

Vacuum heat treatment

Process Description: Heat treatment is performed in a vacuum or protective atmosphere.

Application Effects: Prevents oxidation and decarburization, maintains surface finish, suitable for high-precision, high-requirement parts.

Vacuum Degree: 10⁻²-10⁻⁵ Pa

Induction hardening

Process Description: The workpiece surface is heated by electromagnetic induction and then rapidly cooled.

Application Effects: Localized hardening with minimal deformation and high production efficiency; suitable for localized hardening of shafts, gears, etc.

Hardening Depth: Adjustable from 1-10mm