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Tempering steel

Would you please recommend a good book that will explain the annealing\hardening\tempering process for mild steel, chromemoly steel and tungsten steel.

Robert Register
- Charleston, South Carolina
2002

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2002

Hello Robert!

The basic metallurgy of heat treating steel is explained pretty well in a number of texts. Check out the local university- if they offer a class in manufacturing, or materials processing, or some such course in the Mechanical Engineering curriculum, then the book in their bookstore or library will cover it well. I personally like Reed-Hill's book on Physical Metallurgy Principles, but I'm a metallurgist, and like the detail he gave. ASM International also publishes a few good ones. The Metals Handbook Volume 4 on Heat Treating is good, but I'd give higher marks to the Heat Treater's Guide IF you want more specific information on the difference between say, a 4140 (Chrome Moly) steel and a tungsten (do you mean an F1, an S1, or a T series tool steel?) steel.

On the web, the best that I've seen is from Uddeholm, at their web site. (http://www.uddeholm.com/UTAB/index.asp?id=511)

Lee Gearhart
- East Aurora, New York