← Glossary

Overaging

Loss of hardness in an age-hardened material due to excessively long or hot heat treatment. Fine precipitates coalesce into larger, less effective particles.

Overaging happens when you bring too much heat into the material. The fine particles that harden the structure coarsen and strength drops. This is mainly a problem in the heat-affected zone next to the weld. So you have to keep heat input as low as possible. Weld fast and let the part cool well between passes. If you need the strength back, only a full heat treatment with solution annealing and aging helps.

MetallurgieSchweißtechnik

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