Tempering colors

Dec 05, 2006 1 Replies

Hi, I have a question about tempering colors. I understand that the colors give a visual indication of how far the temper has been drawn, but why do those colors occur? Does it have something to do with oxidation?



Tempering steel by color is an old time method - but it's not very precise. The surface film thickness grows with temperature, and provides a color tell tale via an interference effect - like oil film color on water.

Brian Whatcott Altus OK

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