Heat Treating and Cryogenics
American Cutting edge offers a wide variety of heat treating services including vacuum heat treating, atmospheric heat treating, tempering, and annealing. Our metallurgical lab cannot only provide the exact chemical composition of your steel but can also measure its hardness. We also offer deep cryogenic treatment of knives, blades, and other industrial tools.
During heat treating, steel’s microstructure transforms from austenite to martensite, which makes the steel much more wear resistant. However, some small pockets of austenite may not transform and this does not allow the knives to perform as well as they can. Deep cryogenic processing helps change retained austenite to martensite, completing the transformation process.
Deep cryogenic processing is different from conventional cryogenic processing and requires cooling the parts to more than 300° below zero compared to about 120° for conventional cryogenic processing. Deep cryogenic processing is a microprocessor controlled dry process, which includes cooling the parts at a programmed rate. Soaking the parts for up to thirty-six hours, and then an additional tempering operation to relieve any stress that may remain.
Our services are able to combine deep cryogenic processing with state of the art vacuum heat treating capability to offer unmatched metal treating and the best performance possible from your knives and tools.
Deep cryogenic processing offers the following benefits:
- Increases abrasive wear resistance.
- Changes the knife’s entire structure, not just the surface. Subsequent refinishing operations or re-grinds do not affect the permanent improvements.
- Increases durability and wear life.
- Decreases brittleness.
- Increases tensile strength, toughness and stability coupled with the release of internal stresses.
Ask your American Cutting Edge representative for full details and pricing.
- MAXIMUM SIZE – 48″ X 30″ X 30″
- MINIMUM CHARGE – $250.00
- DELIVERY – 3 -10 DAYS
