HEAT TREATMENTS

Neutral hardening is a heat treatment consisting of several phases:

• austenitization,
• quenching,
• tempering.

Its ultimate goal is to maintain a martensite structure. The advantages are many based on the material on which it is applied, but in general it is used to give more hardness and resistance to steel.

Straightening is a type of processing that is carried out following heat treatments such as cementation and hardening, due to which the pieces can undergo deformations.

The straightening is applied using hydraulic presses to restore the roundness, axiality and rectilinear shape of the piece.

Induction hardening is a heat treatment done on steel to improve hardness and resistance to wear, fatigue and damage to the material. The process takes place in two phases:

• a very fast heating,
• an immediately following one of rather abrupt cooling.

This sudden temperature change creates martensite, an extremely hard material with good mechanical resistance.

Press quenching is a phase subsequent to quenching which allows to maintain the geometry of the piece by eliminating the deformations of the free quenching.

Ion nitriding takes place thanks to the diffusion of nitrogen and carbon on the material. In this way, layers are created that improve wear resistance, surface hardness and resistance to fatigue.