Recommended Hardnesses for Heat Treating Common Metals
Recommended Hardnesses for Heat Treating Common Metals
(OP)
Hello,
I have been searching for a general chart or table that would provide me with the maximum obtainable (or perhaps the recommended) hardness when heat treating various common metals. Is there such a thing? I can't seem to find one in the "Machinery's Handbook" or "Mark's Standard Handbook". I tried doing a fair amount of internet searching as well, but had no luck. Does this type of chart or table even exist? If so, where would I find it? If not, why is this not practical or feasible? It seems to me that people are using industry standards when specifying hardness on drawings. Although, no one seems to have a good answer when I ask them why they choose to specify a particular hardness on their drawings.
Thank very much you.
I have been searching for a general chart or table that would provide me with the maximum obtainable (or perhaps the recommended) hardness when heat treating various common metals. Is there such a thing? I can't seem to find one in the "Machinery's Handbook" or "Mark's Standard Handbook". I tried doing a fair amount of internet searching as well, but had no luck. Does this type of chart or table even exist? If so, where would I find it? If not, why is this not practical or feasible? It seems to me that people are using industry standards when specifying hardness on drawings. Although, no one seems to have a good answer when I ask them why they choose to specify a particular hardness on their drawings.
Thank very much you.





RE: Recommended Hardnesses for Heat Treating Common Metals
There are no charts for general applications of recommended hardness because the design of objects or components for specific service conditions may require many inputs, with hardness as possibly one of them.
There are indeed charts that show the hardenability (depth of hardening) and range of hardness as a function of heat treatment for various metals. This information is compiled in ASM Handbooks available thru ASM International. They also have various reference books on the heat treatment of Steels. See below;
http://www.asminternational.org/
RE: Recommended Hardnesses for Heat Treating Common Metals
METENGR is right about ASM. I actually have the ASM Handbook, Vol. 1, "Properties and Selection: Irons, Steels, and High-Performance Alloys" sitting in front of me. It has about 150 pgs. of hardenability data for carbon and low-alloy steels. It contains material selection charts according to yield strength and hardness, classification of steels according to minimum hardness, and hardenability charts for many alloys. Among the hardenability curves data, there are "hardness limits for specification purposes" with every material listed.
I find this a valuable resource - at least for me.
RE: Recommended Hardnesses for Heat Treating Common Metals
RE: Recommended Hardnesses for Heat Treating Common Metals
RE: Recommended Hardnesses for Heat Treating Common Metals
israelkk,
Thank you for identifying the relationship between strength and hardness. That really cleared things up for me. I was stuck on looking at hardness by itself. One more question if I may...When a material reaches its maximum hardness, does it necessarily reach its maximum strength? If so, wouldn't we want to heat treat materials to their maximum hardness?
Thank you very much!
RE: Recommended Hardnesses for Heat Treating Common Metals
RE: Recommended Hardnesses for Heat Treating Common Metals
RE: Recommended Hardnesses for Heat Treating Common Metals
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RE: Recommended Hardnesses for Heat Treating Common Metals
Ducommun Metals Stock List - this is an antique - Ducommun has been out of business for decades, but most of the information in this book is still valid - good luck finding a copy.
Jorgensen Steel & Aluminum Stock List and Reference Book. Don't know if this is still in print. Jorgensen is now known as EMJ Metals.
http://www.matweb.com