Process Benefits

Atmosphere Heat Treating’s controlled-atmosphere austempering process offers distinct advantages over conventional quench-and-temper heat treatment. By precisely managing the heating and cooling cycles, we minimize internal stresses and optimize microstructure formation—producing stronger, tougher, and more dimensionally stable components.

1. Lower Distortion
   Traditional oil or water quenching can cause uneven cooling and transformation stresses that lead to part distortion. Our process quenches in a molten salt bath at elevated temperatures for uniform transformation, dramatically reducing residual stress and geometric variation.

2. Consistent Hardness
   Variability in chemistry often causes hardness differences in conventional heat treatment. In contrast, our austempering process maintains consistent results across a range of carbon steels—typically showing less than a 3 Rockwell C deviation between 0.50 % and 0.80 % carbon levels.

3. Greater Toughness

   For the same hardness, bainitic structures produced through austempering demonstrate far better fatigue and impact strength than martensitic microstructures. This makes them ideal for components exposed to cyclic loading or high stress, such as springs and suspension parts.

4. Improved Wear Resistance & Strength
   Our process enhances both wear resistance and tensile strength while reducing brittleness. The result: durable components that maintain hardness and dimensional integrity under demanding service conditions.

5. Resistance to Hydrogen Embrittlement
   Unlike martensitic structures, bainitic microstructures resist hydrogen penetration, making them ideal for applications involving plating or exposure to hydrogen environments where brittleness or cracking would otherwise occur.