The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 13, 2001
Filed:
Oct. 28, 1999
Wolfgang Nierlich, Schweinfurt, DE;
SKF GmbH, Schweinfurt, DE;
Abstract
A method of heat-treating a work piece of high-alloy steel by hardening involves relatively briefly annealing the work piece before hardening, followed by cooling the work piece. The brief annealing that is performed before the actual hardening and the ensuing cooling results in homogeneity of the material in the microscopic range. Following the annealing, the work piece is hardened, for instance by quenching in a salt bath, to achieve a super fine distribution of globular carbides in the microscopic structure with considerably reduced size as compared to the outset state. Also, the microscopic structure created by the method of the invention has improved toughness properties as well as increased microscopic structure stability to aging and leads to a longer service life.