stress relieving
what is stress relieving?
When components are processed thermally or mechanically, tensions arise in the material, for example when irregular cooling occurs after hardening. These tensions can be released during further processing of the material and lead to distortion. In order to prevent this, the stresses are significantly reduced during stress relief annealing. This is a special method of annealing, whereby the basic properties of the material are not changed.
the process
The internal stresses in the material can only be reduced by plastic deformations in the micro range. Thus, during annealing, the yield point and the maximum tensile strength for the time of heating are reduced, whereby the stresses can then be reduced up to the set yield point. For steel the temperature of the process is between 500 and 650°C and the heating and cooling is conducted in a very slow manner. This is the only way to prevent cracks or new stresses in the material. The time at temperature for the material is between approximately 60 minutes and several hours. Another advantage of this method is that at these temperatures there is no decarburization or scale formation.
fields of application
As the name implies, the purpose of Stress Relieving is to remove internal residual stresses from steels. The stresses may have come from the steel making mills, machining, forming, welding or even former hardening processes with irregular cooling. If residual stresses are not removed prior to final hardening, distortion may occur, whilst if stresses are left in components before they go into service, then premature failures can result, as well as more subtle movement causing the parts to go out of tolerance.
Typical parts that benefit from stress relieving are large and complex welded assemblies, castings with a lot of machining, parts with tight dimensional tolerances and machined parts that have had a lot of stock removal or rapid stock removal.
groundbreaking industries we serve
process locations
Any questions? Contact us directly or select a process location near you.
Blackburn
United Kingdom 53.7642256-2.4548116 info.blackburn@aalberts-st.com +44 1254 264901 show locationLetchworth
United Kingdom 51.9887569-0.2038797 info.letchworth@aalberts-st.com +44 1462 472100 show locationTelford
United Kingdom 52.7205556-2.4701772 info.telford@aalberts-st.com +44 1952 677372 show locationVärnamo
Sweden 57.176705814.0107878 info.nordic@aalberts-st.com +46 370 69 09 90 show locationVenlo (Lomm)
the Netherlands 51.44642316.1786697 info.venlo@aalberts-st.com +31 77 308 1333 show locationVermondans
France 47.38966236.7607384 info.vermondans@aalberts-st.com +33 381 9645 85 show locationWerther
Germany 52.085558.42509 info.werther@aalberts-st.com +49 5203 97405 show locationRemscheid
Germany 51.22193897.2353813 info.remscheid@aalberts-st.com +49 2191 56200 show locationSoudan
France 47.7059027-1.3208699 info.soudan@aalberts-st.com +33 228040600 show locationGaildorf
Germany 49.01621959.7588191 info.gaildorf@aalberts-st.com +49 7971 96980 show locationKehl
Germany 48.500157.82006 info.kehl@aalberts-st.com +49 7854 96470 show locationLaupheim
Germany 48.229769.83458 info.laupheim@aalberts-st.com +49 7392 70960 show locationAmboise
France 47.41544421.0245775 info.amboise@aalberts-st.com +33 247 2374 74 show locationAnderstorp
Sweden 57.265275813.615284 info.nordic@aalberts-st.com +46 371 58 71 70 show locationBesançon
France 47.21387345.9676805 info.besancon@aalberts-st.com +33 381 5181 87 show locationDunningen
Germany 48.2249668.5003521 info.dunningen@aalberts-st.com +49 7403 92907-0 show locationDzierżoniów
Poland 50.732931316.6280222 info.dzierzoniow@aalberts-st.com +48 515 739 056 show location