Hey Mete, Another Tech Question -

[rlinger]

In stress relieving annealed can I just ramp on up to continue the heat treat after the stress relieve cycle or is it essential to allow the steel to cool to room temperature before proceeding with heat treat?

Thanks.

RL

 

[mete]

It will be hard to answer a technical question after seeing the bladesmith TP ! Take it up to the stress relieve temp ~800-1200F, hold for at least 20 min,check to see if the blade is straight, then put it back in and then austenitize. When you stress relieve the changes occur at temperature not at cooling.Remember that the higher stress relieve temps and longer time will spheroidize the carbides if that's what you also want .

 

[rlinger]

Thank you Mete. I guessed at that but did not want to assume it without your advise. My stress relieves vary with steel and I try to do as the vendor data sheets specify. The one I am doing today is S30V - annealed; relieved at 1210 F for 2 hours. From this point forward I will continue the heat treat cycle and not first cool after stress relieve.

Would you recommend I am holding much longer at stress relieve than necessary if I am not machining after stress relieve but rather going straight from stress relieve to heat treat (the blade is ground and ready for HT)?

Thanks again.

RL

 

[mete]

For just stress relieving you figure 1 hour per inch, that's why I said 20 min. Note that Crucible says to straighten at 400-800F, so check after stress relief and straighten if necessary.