2050 – 11 – Understanding Pickling, Annealing and Carburizing

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There are other procedures that can be used to enhance the quality of steel stock in addition to cold and hot working. These procedures include pickling, annealing, and carburizing.

Pickling puts the stock in acid, which removes the scale caused by hot working. Pickling is a typical procedure performed before cold working.

Annealing gets the stock to an elevated temperature, keeps the metal at that temperature, and then slowly cools it down. This process is used to return ductility to steel and decrease internal stress.

Carburizing increases the temperature of stock in a carbon-rich environment, which imbues the stock with more carbon. The purpose of carburizing is to harden the stock’s external surface.

These processes create stock specifically designed to be ready for used by manufacturers.