Heat Treating and Post Tempering

Foundry capabilities

Heat Treating and Tempering

Post Casting Tempering

Post Casting Tempering or Heat Treating an alloy casting can result in significant changes from the inherent as-cast mechanical properties. Stabilization, strengthening and hardening are typical enhancements gained through adding tempering to a well cast part. Final mechanical properties are influenced greatly by a number of parameters that can be adjusted within each heat treating process. Heat treating can also negatively affect your part if done incorrectly. For example, improper quenching methods can result in excessive residual stresses in your part which will drastically reduce its fatigue life.

Choosing the correct temper to optimize your part’s final properties can be a difficult task. Let our experienced engineers recommend a specific Heat Treating process for your casting to ensure that your project is a success!

Heat Treating and Tempering

Typical Heat Treating and Tempering are listed below. Let our experienced engineers recommend a specific Heat Treating process for your casting to ensure that your project is a success!

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Temper F

Description/Purpose

As Cast condition. Room temperature natural aging has insignificant changes after 48 hours. F temper castings have microstructure instability and undesirable/non-uniform residual stress.

Criteria

Cool to room temperature from casting temperature

Temper	Description/Purpose	Criteria
F	As Cast condition. Room temperature natural aging has insignificant changes after 48 hours. F temper castings have microstructure instability and undesirable/non-uniform residual stress.	Cool to room temperature from casting temperature
O	Annealed – Done to relieve stress and reduce growth. Sometimes described as “extreme over aging.” Maximizes ductility. Decreases casting hardness.	Heat to 500-698F (260-370C) for 2 hrs; air cool to room temperature
T4	Solution treat and age naturally to a stable condition. Natural aging may continue slowly, particularly at elevated service temperatures, so structural stability may not be satisfactory.T4 increases machinability, hardness and strength but sacrifices ductility. Final properties largely dependent on quench.**	Solution Treatment varies, but typically 6-12 hrs at 1000F. Quench at 150-212F depending on section thickness.
T5	Also known as “simplified super saturation treatment.” Cool from casting temperature and artificially age or stabilize without solution treatment. Stabilizes microstructure and increases casting hardness. Provides moderate improvement of mechanical properties from F temper.	Typically 401-500F (205-260C) for 7-10hrs. Over aging will reduce casting hardness. Quenching is optional, but can improve mechanical properties if used appropriately.
T51	Provides additional stability from T5 temper by increasing aging temperature. Provides moderate improvement of mechanical properties from F temper.	Caution – Over aging causes a loss of hardness and strength.
T551	Provides additional stability from T5 temper by increasing aging time. Provides moderate improvement of mechanical properties from F temper. Not recommended for machined castings.	Caution – Over aging causes a loss of hardness and strength.
T6	Solution treat, quench and age artificially. T6 commonly describes the optimum strength, machinability and ductility. Mechanical properties can be greatly influenced by slight process variations within the specified ranges.	Solution Treat (10-12hrs @1000F); Quench in hot water (150-212F); Natural Age at room temperature for 8+ hours; Artificial age at 310F for 3-5 hours.**
T7	Solution treat, quench and overage artificially. This temper improves ductility, thermal stability, and resistance to stress corrosion cracking. This temper provides lower mechanical properties than a typical T6 treatment.	Solution Treat (12hrs @1000F); Quench in hot water (150-212F); Artificial age at 400F for 3-5 hours.**

Continued Value

continued Value

It is a signature trait of our foundry to consider your future needs, including your transition to die cast production, and propose improvements in your product design that can make your transition to production much easier and less costly.

Production Parts

production Parts

Many of our Customers use our “prototype” tooling for their production parts. We provide perpetual tooling for all our products. You will never have to pay another tooling cost for worn-out tooling. As long as Precise Cast is providing the parts, we will continue to produce more tools (as required) to make your parts at No Additional Cost to YOU!