Normalise
Typical steels treated:
This process is generally applied to ferrous alloys. Normalising, the commonest form of heat treatment, is the process of heating the steel and allowing it to Air Cool to ambient. The temperature chosen depends on the individual steel and is governed by its chemistry. This temperature is usually 30 deg c / 50 deg c above its transformation temperature.
Normalising homogenises the structure of the steel and refines the grain size. This in turn improves machinability, removes manufacturing stresses and gives the steel a better and more consistent response to subsequent heat treatment processes especially Harden & Temper. We strongly advise Normalising prior to any Quench & Temper as this gives the heat treater the best possible chance to meet mechanical and impact values along with hardness specifications.
After Normalising the steel exhibits a dull grey appearance with a flaky scale easily removed by shot blasting. At Con Mech the Air Cooling cycle is performed inside to avoid any extreme draughts which could cause uneven cooling leading to possible distortion stresses and unevenness in structure. Dependant on the steel Normalising can produce certain desirable mechanical properties.
Normalising is essential in the case of forgings which have been hot worked and could well have developed a coarse grain structure. Normalising using heat from the forging operation is very often interpreted as Normalising but there is no accurate measurement of temperature and the product is not cooling from a uniform temperature hence the full rewards are not always obtained.
Other hot work operations such as induction bending also demand the Normalise heat treatment to return the steel to its original structure. Shot Blasting is 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.
