Acceptable Heat Treatment Warpage
Acceptable Heat Treatment Warpage
(OP)
Recently had a 8"x8"x3" (milled down from a larger size) H-13 tool steel block with a 3"x2"x1" pocket machined out of it sent out for heat treat. It was hardened to ~40 HRC from 30 HRC. All surfaces came back out ~.005".
Question is what do you consider an acceptable amount of warpage?
With the stresses added from machining some change is expected but this is much more than a previous heat treatment shop was getting.
Next step if I wanted to correct this is to check their process but it really has little effect on the end product. More just curious what others have experienced / find acceptable.
Question is what do you consider an acceptable amount of warpage?
With the stresses added from machining some change is expected but this is much more than a previous heat treatment shop was getting.
Next step if I wanted to correct this is to check their process but it really has little effect on the end product. More just curious what others have experienced / find acceptable.
Comprehension is not understanding. Understanding is not wisdom. And it is wisdom that gives us the ability to apply what we know, to our real world situations





RE: Acceptable Heat Treatment Warpage
H-13 I believe will air harden. How much warpage do you get if it's air-cooled ?
metalhead
RE: Acceptable Heat Treatment Warpage
RE: Acceptable Heat Treatment Warpage
Acceptable was a poor choice of wording. Perhaps "typical" or "commonly expected" results would have been better. Stress relieving prior to machining is a good suggestion if it does become an issue, thank you. Yes I have assumed the process differs from shop to shop but I was more curious what others think is a baseline/standard for good vs bad distortion control by a heat treater, yes there are many variables outside of their control such as stress relief but at a certain point, say .01" distortion per 1" of material would it be considered "poor" distortion control/ process/ temperature control?
Comprehension is not understanding. Understanding is not wisdom. And it is wisdom that gives us the ability to apply what we know, to our real world situations