Annealing
Typical steels treated:
This process is generally applied to ferrous alloys. There are different degrees of annealing but all set out to produce the same result of obtaining a very soft steel structure. Usually the annealing process is adopted to produce a soft steel in readiness for bending, spinning, cutting, machining or other manipulative mechanical operations.
Annealing reduces the force required for these operations but more importantly the risk of fracture or tearing. The temperature for annealing is governed by the chemistry of the steel and is above the transformation temperature by usually 30 / 50 deg c.
Annealing follows initially the same thermal profile as normalising but the difference is the cooling cycle whereby the steel is controlled cooled very slowly within the furnace. Con Mech furnaces are all fitted with programmable controllers such that the most specific cooling profile can be precisely followed. Exit temperature from the furnace varies according to requirements but all cooling external to the furnace at Con Mech is performed inside and is strictly Still Air Cooled with no external draughts on dedicated cooling tables.
At Con Mech we can follow any anneal profile ie Standard Anneal, Semi Anneal, Spherodised Anneal and Sub Critical Anneal. The final product is dull grey in appearance with a flaky scale removable by Shot Blasting. Shot Blast facilities are available at Con Mech Engineers Ltd.
Health & Safety
All heat treated products are removed from furnace and transported by charging machine safely to cooling tables in a controlled manner. Full risk assessments have been carried out and are available on request.
