Tempering is a metallurgical engineering heat treatment applied to a metal, most commonly hardened steel, after it has been quenched, in which the metal is reheated to a temperature well below its critical transformation point and then cooled, relieving some of the internal stresses and extreme brittleness that rapid quenching produces while retaining most of the added hardness. By choosing the tempering temperature, an engineer can trade off some hardness for greater toughness and ductility to suit a particular application, from tools that must hold a hard cutting edge to springs and structural components that must flex or absorb impact without cracking. The technique has been practiced by smiths for centuries and remains standard practice in modern steel manufacturing.
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Quenching (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationPreceded By: Quenching, Heat treatment sectionQuote, Preceded By: Quenching, Heat treatment section
In these cases, another heat treatment technique known as tempering is performed on the quenched material to increase the toughness of iron-based alloys.
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