Heat Treatment & Surface Engineering

Heat Treatment & Surface Engineering

Heat Treatment

Malabou offer full heat treatment capability including;

General Heat Treatment Process

• stress relieving
• normalising
• homogenisation
• annealing
• harden and temper
• precipitation hardening

Vacuum Furnace

Heat treating under a vacuum maintains the surface finish of components during treatment.
Vacuum heat treating is used for bright hardening and tempering, bright annealing, solution annealing of stainless steel, and vacuum brazing. We use a nitrogen gas quench into the vacuum furnace if required.

Induction hardening

Induction hardening is a process where the component is heated by electromagnetic induction. A high frequency alternating current is passed through a coil that is near the area to be heated. The heated area is then quickly quenched using water spray. The heating and quenching is very rapid and localised.

Carburising

A surface hardening treatment in which carbon is diffused into the surface of a low carbon/low alloy steel at high temperature (approx. 900ᵒC). After quenching the result is a component with high hardness on the surface, but the core remains tough.

Nitriding

Nitriding is a surface hardening treatment that introduces nitrogen into the surface of the steel at a relatively low temperature (approx. 520ᵒC). At this temperature, the nitrogen reacts with alloying elements in the steel and forms a hard compound known as ‘nitride’. The creates an extremely hard surface. Because of the low processing temperatures and the absence of quenching, Nitriding is a very low distortion process in comparison to conventional heat treatment.

FNC – Ferritic NitroCarburising 

A case hardening that diffuses nitrogen and carbon into the iron or steel component. This is done at a relatively low temperature 525 to 625°C (977 to 1157°F). At this temperature iron/steel is still in a Ferritic Phase, which is advantageous compared to other case hardening processes that occur in the Austenite Phase. The process is used to improve three main surface integrity aspects including;

• scuffing resistance,
• fatigue properties, and
• corrosion resistance.
• Like Nitriding it has the added advantage of inducing negligible distortion during the hardening process.

Surface Engineering and Coatings

We offer a comprehensive range of surface coating and surface engineering technologies. Including

Mechanical finishes

Shot Blasting
Sand Blasting
Bead Blasting
Polishing

Chemical conversion Coatings

• Phosphating
• Black Oxide
• Anodizing

Pickling and Passivating

Plating

• Nickle, Chromium, Zinc

Hot Dip Galvanizing

Painting, Powder coating

Mil Spec Coatings

Physical Chemistry

• Nitriding
• Carburising
• NitroCarburising