Heat treatment involves the heating of metal alloys to (usually) extreme temperatures, followed by a cooling step under controlled conditions. The temperature the material is heated to, the time it is kept at that temperature and the cooling rate all greatly affect the final physical properties of the metal alloy.
Heat treatments can be applied to many metal alloys to drastically improve key physical properties, including hardness, strength and machinability. These changes happen due to modifications to the microstructure and, sometimes, the chemical composition of the material.
In this article, we review the heat treatments that are relevant to the most commonly used metal alloys in CNC machining to help you choose the right material for your applications.
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