Hardening and depth of hardening of steel is a critically important material and process design parameter. This article presents a selective overview of experimental and predictive procedures to determine steel hardenability. It also covers the breadth of steel hardenability, ranging from shallow, to very difficult to harden, to air-hardening steels.

This article introduces some of the general sources of heat treating problems with particular emphasis on problems caused by the actual heat treating process and the significant thermal and transformation stresses within a heat treated part. It addresses the design and material factors that cause a part to fail during heat treatment. The article discusses the problems associated with heating and furnaces, quenching media, quenching stresses, hardenability, tempering, carburizing, carbonitriding, and nitriding as well as potential stainless steel problems and problems associated with nonferrous heat treatments. The processes involved in cold working of certain ferrous and nonferrous alloys are also covered.

The various methods of furnace, torch, induction, resistance, dip, and laser brazing are used to produce a wide range of highly reliable brazed assemblies. However, imperfections that can lead to braze failure may result if proper attention is not paid to the physical properties of the material, joint design, prebraze cleaning, brazing procedures, postbraze cleaning, and quality control. Factors that must be considered include brazeability of the base metals; joint design and fit-up; filler-metal selection; prebraze cleaning; brazing temperature, time, atmosphere, or flux; conditions of the faying surfaces; postbraze cleaning; and service conditions. This article focuses on the advantages, limitations, sources of failure, and anomalies resulting from the brazing process. It discusses the processes involved in the testing and inspection required of the braze joint or assembly.

This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy, fabrication characteristics, processing effects on physical and mechanical properties, and application characteristics of Al-Si-Mg high-strength premium casting alloy 359.0.

Alloy 7040 is a variation of 7050, where Zr additions prevent recrystallization of hot-worked products during solution heat treatment without the quench sensitivity from additions of Cr. This datasheet provides information on composition limits and fabrication characteristics of aluminum alloys 7040 and 7140 and processing effects on mechanical properties of aluminum alloy 7040-T7651 high-strength plate.

This datasheet provides information on composition limits, mill product specifications, fabrication characteristics, processing effects on physical and mechanical properties, and applications of high-strength Al-Mg-Mn-Cr alloy 5456.

Alloy 238.0 is a standard general purpose Al-Si-Cu alloy used for high hardness in the as-cast condition, good casting characteristics, and good machinability. This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy, processing effects on typical properties, fabrication characteristics, and applications of this 2xxx series alloy.

This datasheet provides information on composition limits, fabrication characteristics, processing effects on physical and mechanical properties, and applications of bright-finishing alloys 5457, 5557, and 5657. A table lists approximate bend radii for 90 deg cold bending of alloy 5557.

The wear- and abrasion-resistant alloy 4032 is a medium-high-strength, heat-treatable alloy. This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy, processing effects on physical and mechanical properties, and fabrication characteristics of this 4xxx series alloy.

This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy, fabrication characteristics, processing effects on physical and mechanical properties, and applications of Al-Mg high-strength casting alloy 535.0.

Alloy 7049 is produced occasionally for forgings and extrusions. This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy and processing effects on physical and mechanical properties of this 7xxx series alloy.

Many characteristics of extrusion alloy 6063 are similar to those of 6061 with slightly better formability and general corrosion resistance. This datasheet provides information on composition limits, fabrication characteristics, processing effects on physical and mechanical properties, mill product specifications, and applications of this 6xxx series alloy. The characteristics of alloy 6063 are compared with related alloys and tempers.

This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy, processing effects on physical and mechanical properties, and fabrication characteristics of Al-2.5Mg alloy 5652.

Alloys 242.0 and A242.0 are age-hardenable casting alloys with excellent strength at elevated temperatures. This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy, processing effects on physical and mechanical properties, fabrication characteristics, and application characteristics of these 2xxx series alloys.

Alloy 710.0 is a natural-aging aluminum alloy produced by sand casting and suitable for highly stressed castings. This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy, processing effects on physical and mechanical properties, and fabrication characteristics of this 7xxx series alloy.

This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy and processing effects on physical and mechanical properties of Al-3.1Mg alloy 5754.

Alloy 2519 is an Al-Cu alloy that was developed as a higher strength weldable alloy for armor plate. This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy of alloy 2519 and processing effects on mechanical properties of 2519-T87 plate.

Alloy 365.0 and A365.0 are developed near eutectic Al-Si die-casting alloys with additions of manganese to reduce die soldering. This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy, processing effects on tensile properties, and fabrication characteristics of these 3xxx series alloys.