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Originally Posted by madjohn
thx
what does temper and quenching mean?
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Phase_diag_Fe_C.PNG/250px-Phase_diag_Fe_C.PNG
well, when you get steel, its relatively soft. by heating up to the gamma stage (austenite), which is close to its curie point (temperature at which it becomes non magnetic).
then you dunk it in a cool liquid to lock the particles into shape before it becomes the alpha stage again (ferrite). water is used, but oil is a much better option, because water boils at 100C, in which it doesnt make contact with the metal as well
at this stage, the metal is in the martensite phase. its really hard(and so keeps a good edge), but its brittle
tempering is a process in which you heat the metal at 240C for a period of time, which makes it only slightly less hard, but improves the toughness by a large amount. the more you temper it, the more tough (and less hard) it gets