TEMPER COLOR. A thin, tightly adhering oxide skin that forms when steel is tempered at a low temperature, or for a short time, in air or a mildly oxidizing atmosphere. The color, which ranges from straw to blue depending on the thickness of the oxide skin, varies with both tempering time and temperature.
You may also like
TRANSFORMATION HARDENING. Heat treatment comprising austenitization followed by cooling under conditions such that the austenite transforms more or less completely into martensite and […]
STRAIN HARDENING. An increase in hardness and strength caused by plastic deformation at temperatures below the recrystallization range.
SECONDARY HARDNESS. The higher hardness developed by certain alloy steels when they are cooled from a tempering operation. This should always be followed […]
VACUUM FURNACE. A furnace using low atmospheric pressures instead of a protective gas atmosphere like most heat-treating furnaces. Vacuum furnaces are categorized at […]