Oxy-Acetylene Welding and Cutting | Page 7

in an oven or furnace to die down and go out, leaving the work inside the oven with all openings closed. The greater the time taken for gradual cooling from the red heat, the more perfect will be the results of the annealing.
While steel is annealed by slow cooling, copper or brass is annealed by bringing to a low red heat and quickly plunging into cold water.
_Hardening._--Steel is hardened by bringing to a proper temperature, slowly and evenly as for annealing, and then cooling more or less quickly, according to the grade of steel being handled. The degree of hardening is determined by the kind of steel, the temperature from which the metal is cooled and the temperature and nature of the bath into which it is plunged for cooling.
Steel to be hardened is often heated in the fire until at some heat around 600 to 700 degrees is reached, then placed in a heating bath of molten lead, heated mercury, fused cyanate of potassium, etc., the heating bath itself being kept at the proper temperature by fires acting on it. While these baths have the advantage of heating the metal evenly and to exactly the temperature desired throughout without any part becoming over or under heated, their disadvantages consist of the fact that their materials and the fumes are poisonous in most all cases, and if not poisonous, are extremely disagreeable.
The degree of heat that a piece of steel must be brought to in order that it may be hardened depends on the percentage of carbon in the steel. The greater the percentage of carbon, the lower the heat necessary to harden.
[Illustration: Figure 5.--Cooling the Test Bar for Hardening]
To find the proper heat from which any steel must be cooled, a simple test may be carried out provided a sample of the steel, about six inches long can be secured. One end of this test bar should be heated almost to its melting point, and held at this heat until the other end just turns red. Now cool the piece in water by plunging it so that both ends enter at the same time (Figure 5), that is, hold it parallel with the surface of the water when plunged in. This serves the purpose of cooling each point along the bar from a different heat. When it has cooled in the water remove the piece and break it at short intervals, about 1/2 inch, along its length. The point along the test bar which was cooled from the best possible temperature will show a very fine smooth grain and the piece cannot be cut by a file at this point. It will be necessary to remember the exact color of that point when taken from the fire, making another test if necessary, and heat all pieces of this same steel to this heat. It will be necessary to have the cooling bath always at the same temperature, or the results cannot be alike.
While steel to be hardened is usually cooled in water, many other liquids may be used. If cooled in strong brine, the heat will be extracted much quicker, and the degree of hardness will be greater. A still greater degree of hardness is secured by cooling in a bath of mercury. Care should be used with the mercury bath, as the fumes that arise are poisonous.
Should toughness be desired, without extreme hardness, the steel may be cooled in a bath of lard oil, neatsfoot oil or fish oil. To secure a result between water and oil, it is customary to place a thick layer of oil on top of water. In cooling, the piece will pass through the oil first, thus avoiding the sudden shock of the cold water, yet producing a degree of hardness almost as great as if the oil were not used.
It will, of course, be necessary to make a separate test for each cooling medium used. If the fracture of the test piece shows a coarse grain, the steel was too hot at that point; if the fracture can be cut with a file, the metal was not hot enough at that point.
When hardening carbon tool steel its heat should be brought to a cherry red, the exact degree of heat depending on the amount of carbon and the test made, then plunged into water and held there until all hissing sound and vibration ceases. Brine may be used for this purpose; it is even better than plain water. As soon as the hissing stops, remove the work from the water or brine and plunge in oil for complete cooling.
[Illustration: Figure 6.--Cooling the Tool for Tempering]
In hardening high-speed tool steel, or air hardening steels, the tool should be handled as for carbon steel, except that after the body reaches a cherry red, the