Solution annealing is a heat treatment with an idiosyncratic process. It’s a big chance that you’ve never heard of it. Most of the time we apply this treatment if we want to improve the properties of the material. In the end we want to dissolve the different components of the material to homogenize it. Many technical terms but we’ll take you through this article. Read on.
For an equivalent microstructure
Most of the time this treatment will be applied for materials such as stainless steel, nickel-based alloys and for non-ferrous metals. It is commonly used in industries such as aerospace, automotive and oil and gas where material performance is of paramount importance. Think about environments where strong material is really necessary. The heat treatment solution annealing improves the mechanical properties.
There are several things to keep in mind when this heat treatment is executed.
It is essential to carefully control the temperature, wake time and cooling rate during the solution annealing process. The specific treatment depends on the type of material, composition and intended use. Therefore, solution annealing is usually performed under carefully controlled conditions by experienced operators or using heat treatment equipment that is computer controlled.
The steps of solution annealing
The most important steps of the heat treatment solution annealing are:
- Heating: The material is heated to a predetermined temperature, usually above its critical or transformation temperature. This temperature depends on the specific material being treated.
- Soaking (holding): Once the material reaches the desired temperature, it is held at that temperature for a certain period. This provides enough time for the material’s internal structure to reach thermal equilibrium and dissolve any precipitates or phases that may have formed during previous processing.
- Cooling: After the soaking period, the material is rapidly cooled or quenched. The cooling rate is essential to prevent the reformation of undesirable phases and to retain the desired properties in the material.
Delta Heat Services understands that it is hard to understand the whole process. That’s why we take it off your hands. We are all experienced in heat treatments so please leave it up to us!
Other heat treatment techniques
Besides solution annealing, there are many other heat treatments that we offer you. Other ones are normalizing and annealing or post weld heat treatment. The equipment we use is electrical equipment or induction equipment, it depends on the workpiece. Interested? Please get in touch with us. We will explain more about our treatments, equipment and possibilities.
Delta Heat Services
It’s possible to buy or rent the equipment of Delta Heat Services. Would you like to know more about the different heat treatments of alloys? Or other metal pieces? Or do you want to request a quote or do you have another question? Please feel free to contact us without obligation.