Annealing: A heating and cooling operation, usually slow cooling, performed on steels in the solid state. Annealing is a comprehensive term, the purpose of which may be:

1. To remove stress.
2. To induce softness.
3. To alter ducility, toughness, electrical, magnetic or other physical properties.
4. To refine the crystalline structure.
5. To remove gasses.
6. To produce a definite microstructure.

Hardening: A Heat Treating Process that implies heating steel to a temperature above the critical range, and cooling it rapidly enough through the critical range to harden it appreciably.

Heat Treatment: Steel is heat treated to improve it for the service intended or to prepare it for operations such as cold rolling, cold drawing or machining. This process is broadly defined as an operation or combination or operations involving the heating and cooling of steel in the solid state to obtain a certain desired condition or set of properties.

Hot Rolled vs. Cold Finished: Hot rolled material without any further finishing are chosen for many general uses, thus saving money. Cold finishing, which usually consists of cold drawing and/or turning, grinding and polishing, results in higher yield points and has these main advantages:

1. Cold drawing through a die imparts a bright new surface.
2. The second advantage is size tolerance, concentricity, straightness. C.F. materials are close dimensionally.
3. Cold drawing increases the yield and tensile strengths, this often eliminates further costly thermal treatments.
4. The fourth advantage is machinability, which is often improved by as much as 20%. This can mean savings through increased tool life, higher cutting speeds and a better surface finish.

Mechanical Working: Changing the former structure of a metal by subjecting it to pressure by rolling, pressing, or forging. The crystalline structure is refined and the quality of the metal is improved as the particles are forced into intimate contact. The strength is always increased by working and the hardness and ducility may be affected depending upon the amount of work done by the temperature at which the working is carried on.

Pickling: Removing scale by immersion in a dilute acid bath.

Quenching: Cooling by immersion in some medium, which may be any liquid or gas, or even a solid in suitable form, to absorb heat rapidly from the article to be quenched.

Tempering or Drawing: This process is applied to relieve stresses due to hardening and to adjust the hardness to the value desired. The hardened steel is reheated to a temperature below the lower critical range and is then permitted to cool.

Tensile Strength: The maximum load, per unit or original cross-sectional area, a material in tension is capable of withstanding before complete failure or rupture.

Yield Point: The load per unit of original cross-sectional area which a marked increase in the deformation of a specimen occurs without increase of load. It is usually determinded by the sudden drop of the beam of the testing machine or by use of dividers or by means of an extensometer.

Engineering Conversion Factors:

Metal Guage Chart:
conversion to inches

Guage Number	Cold & Hot Rolled Sheet	Stainless Steel Sheet
10	0.1345"	0.14062"
11	0.1196"	0.12500"
12	0.1046"	0.10937"
13	0.0897"	0.09375"
14	0.0747"	0.07812"
15	0.0673"	0.07031"
16	0.0598"	0.06250"
17	0.0538"	0.05625"
18	0.0478"	0.05000"
19	0.0418"	0.04375"
20	0.0359"	0.03750"
21	0.0329"	0.03437"
22	0.0299"	0.03125"

Measurements Conversion Chart:
decimal to fractions

#/64	Decimal	Fraction
1/64	0.015625	1/64
2/64	0.03125	1/32
3/64	0.046875	3/64
4/64	0.0625	1/16
5/64	0.078125	5/64
6/64	0.09375	3/32
7/64	0.109375	7/64
8/64	0.125	1/8
9/64	0.140625	9/64
10/64	0.15625	5/32
11/64	0.171875	11/64
12/64	0.1875	3/16
13/64	0.203125	13/64
14/64	0.21875	7/32
15/64	0.234375	15/64
16/64	0.25	1/4
17/64	0.265625	17/64
18/64	0.28125	9/32
19/64	0.296875	19/64
20/64	0.3125	5/16
21/64	0.328125	21/64
22/64	0.34375	11/32
23/64	0.359375	23/64
24/64	0.375	3/8
25/64	0.390625	25/64
26/64	0.40625	13/32
27/64	0.421875	27/64
28/64	0.4375	7/16
29/64	0.453125	29/64
30/64	0.46875	15/32
31/64	0.484375	31/64
32/64	0.5	2/4
33/64	0.515625	33/64
34/64	0.53125	17/32
35/64	0.546875	35/64
36/64	0.5625	9/16
37/64	0.578125	37/64
38/64	0.59375	19/32
39/64	0.609375	39/64
40/64	0.625	5/8
41/64	0.640625	41/64
42/64	0.65625	21/32
43/64	0.671875	43/64
44/64	0.6875	11/16
45/64	0.703125	45/64
46/64	0.71875	23/32
47/64	0.734375	47/64
48/64	0.75	3/4
49/64	0.765625	49/64
50/64	0.78125	25/32
51/64	0.796875	51/64
52/64	0.8125	13/16
53/64	0.828125	53/64
54/64	0.84375	27/32
55/64	0.859375	55/64
56/64	0.875	7/8
57/64	0.890625	57/64
58/64	0.90625	29/32
59/64	0.921875	59/64
60/64	0.9375	15/16
61/64	0.953125	61/64
62/64	0.96875	31/32
63/64	0.984375	63/64
64/64	1	1