Martensite tempering

The thermal process of annealing freshly quenched martensite to reduce brittleness and precipitate fine carbides. This achieves a technologically sound compromise between hardness and toughness.

You temper martensite when you want hardened steel to be tougher again. You heat the workpiece to a medium temperature, hold it for a while, and then let it cool slowly. This relieves the hard, brittle structure and gives it more toughness again, without it becoming completely soft. If you skip this or get too hot, the part stays hard but brittle and can break during welding or in service.

MetallurgieSchweißtechnik