THE EFFECT OF HEAT TREATMENT ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF METALS
Keywords:
Heat treatment, mechanical properties, microstructural changes, hardness, strength, plasticity, hardening, tempering, normalizing, ferrite, pearlite, martensite, thermal cycling, metallurgy, microalloying, alloys, heating, cooling, phase changes, precipitationAbstract
Heat treatment has a significant impact on the microstructure of metallic materials and, through it, on their mechanical properties. The types of heat treatment performed on metals - heating, cooling, normalizing, hardening and tempering - control their grain size, phase composition, internal stress state and precipitation processes. This, in turn, greatly changes the properties of steel, aluminum, titanium and other alloys, such as strength, hardness, plasticity, and wear resistance. The study experimentally and theoretically investigated how different heat treatment regimes lead to microstructural changes in the main types of metals and how they affect mechanical properties. According to the results, a properly selected heat treatment regime can significantly increase the useful working capacity of the material. In particular, the combination of the optimal cooling rate and reheating temperature provides the most optimal mechanical indicators. The article also contains practical recommendations for improving mechanical properties.
