1.3 Enhancement of materials (key terms)

Question 1

Work hardening

Answer 1

Improved tensile strength and harness in the localised area when a metal is cold worked

Question 2

Annealing

Answer 2

Heating work hardened metal and very slowly cooling it, making it easier to work by making it less brittle and more ductile

Question 3

Case hardening

Answer 3

A process for hardening the surface of steels with less than 0.4% carbon content

Question 4

Carburising

Answer 4

Changes the chemical composition of the surface of low carbon steel so it absorbs more carbon and increase surface hardness

Question 5

Quenching

Answer 5

Rapid cooling of a heat-treated metal

Question 6

Hardening and tempering

Answer 6

Heating medium of high carbon steels to a given temperature, rapidly cooling via quenching and then heating to a set temperature to remove excess hardness

Question 7

Tempering colour

Answer 7

The colour seen on metal that indicates the temperature at which brittleness is removed

Question 8

Critical point

Answer 8

The temperature at which the atoms of carbon and steel mix freely before bonding together to become a solid