Quenched and tempered

High quality plates made of hot working or low temperature steel grades for pressure vessels or high strength grades in larger plate thicknesses are subjected to additional heat treatment by normalising or quenching and tempering. Two heating furnaces and a quenching unit are available for these processes.

The two-step process of quenching and tempering consists of hardening by austenitising the plate at 900 degrees and quenching in water. The plate is clamped in the hardening unit to avoid warping during quenching.

The desired material properties are achieved with subsequent tempering. This process results in a material with very fine-grained and homogeneous structure as well as high strength and proper toughness.