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Imagine a medieval blacksmith hammering a sword fresh out of the fire. With the weapon still red-hot, he dunks it in water. The water hisses and boils around the submerged steel as it turns color from glowing orange to grey. This iconic scene of rapidly cooling a workpiece is called quenching, or quench hardening, and […]
Internal stresses form naturally during many manufacturing processes. Machining, stamping and welding, for example, are common manufacturing methods that augment the amount of stress in a material’s fabric. And although stress build-up is a natural byproduct of these processes, too much of it leads very commonly to part distortion. Most of these stresses must therefore […]
Joining multiple metal parts together into a single, cohesive unit is an indispensable process to manufacturing. Bolts, screws, and adhesives are often used to unite separate parts, but many applications call for a more solid connection. Thanks to the craft of welding, manufacturers are able to effectively create a single part from multiple components. Casting […]
Hardening a metal achieves much more than simply making it mechanically harder. It also improves strength, making the alloy more resistant to plastic deformation, and can aid with corrosion resistance. However, a harder metal is also often a more brittle metal. As such, hardening is usually just one part of a properly designed heat treatment […]
Normalizing is one of the most common heat treatments used in manufacturing carbon steel. It is a vital process to ensure that the mechanical and physical properties of a carbon steel workpiece are integrated and distributed uniformly across the material. In steelmaking, material uniformity is achieved by carefully controlling a casting’s microstructure — specifically, its […]
“Hardness” is a concept we use every day to compare objects: fresh bread vs. stale bread, a baseball vs. a softball. In manufacturing the definition is a bit more specific: hardness is a measure of a material’s ability to resist localized scratching or deformation by indentation at a specific loading location. Our understanding of hardness […]
Past civilizations had practical reasons for caring about metal properties. They asked questions like “Can I break my enemy’s sword before he breaks mine?” or “How thick does my armor need to be to provide enough protection?” These warriors had a vested interest in material strength.
In previous installments of our series on Metal Properties, we’ve discussed characteristics that set metals apart from one another, as well as those that distinguish them from other nonmetallic elements. Conductivity represents an array of essential features that go to the very heart of what defines a metal. In this article we will be asking: […]
Corrosion is a common challenge affecting the surface of most metal parts. While corrosion often only affects the aesthetics of a metal part, severe corrosion can affect performance and can even lead to equipment failure. Corrosion is such a widespread challenge that the global cost of corrosion is estimated to be $2.5 trillion annually, according […]
The latest resource from the Eagle Group is an updated and expanded edition of our Buyer’s Guide to Purchasing Raw and Machined Cast Products, one
