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The hardening process and what transformation the steel goes through during the hardening process. Hardening (A specific heating and cooling process based on the chemistry of the material) is performed on all ferrous steels to develop the proper microstructure and optimal properties of the material. The 1st stage of hardening is the preheat cycle.  Preheating the steel helps to prevent thermal shock & helps the material adjust to the higher hardening temperatures. During the heat treating cycle, the material goes through many transformation stages, usually 10-12 stages.  During this process the material will shrink & grow.  It will form austenite (material will shrink and become non-magnetic), then martensite (Growth larger than its starting size at room temperature), then tempered martensite (returns to dimensions very close to starting datums at the start point). Note: Proper hardening processes will produce as close to a homogeneous (tight) microstru...

What is heat treating?  Simply defined, it is the controlled heating and cooling of steel in order to enhance certain mechanical and physical properties.  We could go into a deep metallurgical explanation, but you would probably fall asleep, or get easily distracted by all the extra research you would do on tempered martensite or retained austenite.   Heat treating is a commonly misunderstood topic, we hope to guide you in understanding some of the basic processes that will hopefully lead you to ask the right questions about the materials you select and the processes you specify in order to build the best tool you can build. The following is a list of some basic processes that should be considered with any tool steel heat treatment: Stress relief… Why? It reduces dimensional distortion Preheating… Why? Minimizes thermal shock Hardening temperatures and times… Why? Proper temperature and times are critical in producing the desired properties. Quench m...