great service is our goal
In an industry where time is money, we can’t just strive to deliver great service, we guarantee it. Reliable delivery dates, along with minimized lead times, are key components anchored in our ISO 9001 certified quality system.
Reliable delivery
You need your products on site at a specific time — and if you don’t have them, that impacts your project schedules. Reliability is the reason why people choose MacSpring. We will always be upfront and honest about delivery times so you don’t have to worry.
Shortest lead time
HEAT TREATING
Our heat-treating capabilities include annealing, normalizing, hardening, quenching, and stress relieving. All of these processes are crucial to delivering quality products that meet the toughest of standards.
- ANNEALING
- NORMALIZING
- HARDENING
- QUENCHING
- STRESS RELIEVING
Full Annealing alters the physical and sometimes chemical properties of a material to increase its ductility and reduce its hardness, making it more workable.
Process Annealing is used to treat work-hardened parts made out of low-carbon steels (< 0.25% Carbon). This allows the parts to be soft enough to undergo further cold working without fracturing. This process is cheaper than either full annealing or normalizing since the material is not heated to a very high temperature or cooled in a furnace.
Stress Relief Anneal is used to reduce residual stresses in large castings, welded parts and cold-formed parts. Such parts tend to have stresses due to thermal cycling or work hardening. Parts are heated to temperatures of up to 600 - 650 oC (1112 - 1202 oF), and held for an extended time (about 1 hour or more) and then slowly cooled in still air.
Normalizing softens material; the degree of softness depends on the actual ambient conditions of cooling. This process is considerably cheaper than full annealing since there is no added cost of controlled furnace cooling.
The main difference between full annealing and normalizing is that fully annealed parts are uniform in softness (and machinabililty) throughout the entire part; since the entire part is exposed to the controlled furnace cooling. In the case of the normalized part, depending on the part geometry, the cooling is non-uniform resulting in non-uniform material properties across the part. This may not be desirable if further machining is desired, since it makes the machining job somewhat unpredictable. In such a case it is better to do full annealing.
Hardening (Monitored & Calibrated) is a function of the Carbon content of the steel. Hardening of a steel requires a change in structure from the body-centered cubic structure found at room temperature to the face-centered cubic structure found in the Austenitic region. The steel is heated to Autenitic region. When suddenly quenched, the Martensite is formed. This is a very strong and brittle structure. When slowly quenched it would form Austenite and Pearlite which is a partly hard and partly soft structure. When the cooling rate is extremely slow then it would be mostly Pearlite which is extremely soft.
Quenching (Air/Oil/Water) is the act of rapidly cooling the hot steel to harden the steel.
Water: Quenching can be done by plunging the hot steel in water. The water adjacent to the hot steel vaporizes, and there is no direct contact of the water with the steel. This slows down cooling until the bubbles break and allow water contact with the hot steel. As the water contacts and boils, a great amount of heat is removed from the steel. With good agitation, bubbles can be prevented from sticking to the steel, and thereby prevent soft spots. Water is a good rapid quenching medium, provided good agitation is done. However, water is corrosive with steel, and the rapid cooling can sometimes cause distortion or cracking.
Oil: Oil is used when a slower cooling rate is desired. Since oil has a very high boiling point, the transition from start of Martensite formation to the finish is slow and this reduces the likelihood of cracking. Oil quenching results in fumes, spills, and sometimes a fire hazard.
Quenches are usually done to room temperature. Most medium carbon steels and low alloy steels undergo transformation to 100% Martensite at room temperature. However, high carbon and high alloy steels have retained Austenite at room temperature. To eliminate retained Austenite, the quench temperature has to be lowered.
Machining induces stresses in parts. The bigger and more complex the part, the more the stresses. These stresses can cause distortions in the part long term. If the parts are clamped in service, then cracking could occur. Also hole locations can change causing them to go out of tolerance. For these reasons, stress relieving is often necessary.
Stress Relieving is done by subjecting the parts to a temperature of about 75 oC (165 oF) below the transformation temperature. This removes more than 90% of the internal stresses. After removing from the furnace, the parts are air cooled in still air.
annealing
Full Annealing alters the physical and sometimes chemical properties of a material to increase its ductility and reduce its hardness, making it more workable.
Process Annealing is used to treat work-hardened parts made out of low-carbon steels (< 0.25% Carbon). This allows the parts to be soft enough to undergo further cold working without fracturing. This process is cheaper than either full annealing or normalizing since the material is not heated to a very high temperature or cooled in a furnace.
Stress Relief Anneal is used to reduce residual stresses in large castings, welded parts and cold-formed parts. Such parts tend to have stresses due to thermal cycling or work hardening. Parts are heated to temperatures of up to 600 – 650 oC (1112 – 1202 oF), and held for an extended time (about 1 hour or more) and then slowly cooled in still air.
normalizing
Normalizing softens material; the degree of softness depends on the actual ambient conditions of cooling. This process is considerably cheaper than full annealing since there is no added cost of controlled furnace cooling.
The main difference between full annealing and normalizing is that fully annealed parts are uniform in softness (and machinability) throughout the entire part; since the entire part is exposed to the controlled furnace cooling. In the case of the normalized part, depending on the part geometry, the cooling is non-uniform resulting in non-uniform material properties across the part. This may not be desirable if further machining is desired, since it makes the machining job somewhat unpredictable. In such a case it is better to do full annealing.
Hardening (Monitored & Calibrated) is a function of the Carbon content of the steel. Hardening of a steel requires a change in structure from the body-centered cubic structure found at room temperature to the face-centered cubic structure found in the Austenitic region. The steel is heated to Autenitic region. When suddenly quenched, the Martensite is formed. This is a very strong and brittle structure. When slowly quenched it would form Austenite and Pearlite which is a partly hard and partly soft structure. When the cooling rate is extremely slow then it would be mostly Pearlite which is extremely soft.
hardening
Hardening (Monitored & Calibrated) is a function of the Carbon content of the steel. Hardening of a steel requires a change in structure from the body-centered cubic structure found at room temperature to the face-centered cubic structure found in the Austenitic region. The steel is heated to Autenitic region. When suddenly quenched, the Martensite is formed. This is a very strong and brittle structure. When slowly quenched it would form Austenite and Pearlite which is a partly hard and partly soft structure. When the cooling rate is extremely slow then it would be mostly Pearlite which is extremely soft.
quenching
Quenching (Air/Oil/Water) is the act of rapidly cooling the hot steel to harden the steel.
Water: Quenching can be done by plunging the hot steel in water. The water adjacent to the hot steel vaporizes, and there is no direct contact of the water with the steel. This slows down cooling until the bubbles break and allow water contact with the hot steel. As the water contacts and boils, a great amount of heat is removed from the steel. With good agitation, bubbles can be prevented from sticking to the steel, and thereby prevent soft spots. Water is a good rapid quenching medium, provided good agitation is done. However, water is corrosive with steel, and the rapid cooling can sometimes cause distortion or cracking.
Oil: Oil is used when a slower cooling rate is desired. Since oil has a very high boiling point, the transition from start of Martensite formation to the finish is slow and this reduces the likelihood of cracking. Oil quenching results in fumes, spills, and sometimes a fire hazard.
Quenches are usually done to room temperature. Most medium carbon steels and low alloy steels undergo transformation to 100% Martensite at room temperature. However, high carbon and high alloy steels have retained Austenite at room temperature. To eliminate retained Austenite, the quench temperature has to be lowered.
stress relieving
Machining induces stresses in parts. The bigger and more complex the part, the more the stresses. These stresses can cause distortions in the part long term. If the parts are clamped in service, then cracking could occur. Also hole locations can change causing them to go out of tolerance. For these reasons, stress relieving is often necessary.
Stress Relieving is done by subjecting the parts to a temperature of about 75 oC (165 oF) below the transformation temperature. This removes more than 90% of the internal stresses. After removing from the furnace, the parts are air cooled in still air.
we’re built to serve and deliver
Regardless of whether you have your specs and requirements set out or just a rough idea, let’s get a conversation going. We want to make it happen.