Precipitation (Age) Hardening Heat Treatment
Applied Thermal Technologies offers specialized precipitation and age hardening heat treatment services designed to enhance strength, fatigue resistance, and mechanical performance in high-performance alloys. Our controlled thermal processes deliver consistent metallurgical results for aerospace, medical, energy, and industrial components.
What Is Precipitation & Age Hardening Heat Treatment?
Precipitation and age hardening heat treatment is a two-stage process where alloys are solution treated, then cooled and held at elevated temperature to precipitate fine particles within the metal matrix. This controlled precipitation increases strength, hardness, and fatigue resistance while preserving ductility and dimensional stability. Commonly used on aluminum, titanium, and nickel-base alloys, this process is critical for high-performance applications.
Precipitation hardening (age hardening) is a heat treatment of nickel, titanium, and some stainless steels. Unlike ordinary tempering, alloys must be kept at an elevated temperature for hour(s) to allow precipitation to take place. This time delay technique used to increase the yield strength is called ageing. Note that two different heat treatments involving precipitates can alter the strength of material: Solution heat treating and Precipitation heat treating. Solution heat treatment involves transformation to allow for further processing and ageing.
Solution Treatment & Quenching
Our controlled solution treatment cycles dissolve alloying elements followed by rapid quenching to lock in a supersaturated solid solution. Subsequent aging develops fine precipitates that enhance strength and fatigue resistance.
Key Benefits of Precipitation & Age Hardening
- Increased strength and fatigue resistance
- Improved dimensional stability
- Enhanced mechanical performance for critical applications
- Process control with traceable data and documentation
Precipitation Hardening, Age Hardening Stainless Steels-
Available Processes -Solution Anneal, H-900, H-925, H-950, H-1000, H-1050, H-1100, H-1150, H-1150M, H-1150D, Age, CH-900, TH-950, TH-1050, RH-950, RH-1050, Stress Relieve 13-8 PH 14-8 PH 15-5 PH 15-7 PH 17-4 PH 17-7 PH 455 Custom A286 AM-350 AM-355 Custom 450 Custom 455 Maraging 250 Maraging 300
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