Annealing brass and other non ferrous metals

Most folks dont know that lead alloys harden when quenched, and brass/copper tend to go soft.

Metalurgy can be confusing to folks. Even to me!!

Gunner

Whenever a Liberal utters the term "Common Sense approach"....grab your wallet, your ass, and your guns because the sombitch is about to do something damned nasty to all three of them.

I thought so.

How does annealing and quenching work with aluminum? I remember trying to use some 2xxx aluminum a few years ago to see if I could squeeze a ball bearing between two pieces in order to make a bullet mold. Heating and air cooling did make the material softer, just not enough.

Might as well nail down aluminum in case he shifts his ground a bit.

Wes

This is a bit oversimplified, but it's the basic story. Non-heat-treatable alloys (1000, 3000, 5000 series) are similar to yellow brass: you heat them to around the crystallization temperature (around 620 deg. F), as fast or slow as you want, and you quench them, as fast or slow as you want. You'll get a half-hard temper (H-2) or something above or below it if you just touch the recystallization temperature. Like brass, a full anneal (O-temper for aluminum) requires heating *above* the recrystallization temperature (650 deg. F, in this case). Again, it doesn't matter how fast you quench it.

For heat-treatable alloys (2000, 6000, and 7000 Series), you get roughly the same result. BUT -- and this is a big "but" -- if you don't heat them well above the recrystallization temperature (to 775 deg. F), soak them at that temperature for a while (2 or 3 hours), and cool them at a rate of roughly

50 deg. F per hour, they will re-harden over time through the age-hardening process. That happens because of natural precipitation hardening. To get a full O-temper, you have to go through the high heat and temperature ramping stages for cooling. Done right, that will prevent precipitation hardening.

BTW, I've done the ball-bearing trick with 2024, and got the same result as you. I described it at length here a number of years ago, in a message to Gunner. I had to whack the hell out of the two mold halves with a 3-pound maul, on an anvil, to fill out the shape of the ball.

Also BTW, there is no area of metalworking that I know of that is more subject to myths and old wives' tales than heat treatment. That's especially true with anything to do with guns and knives, although I think the knife guys are a lot better at it than the gun guys. Practical experience is great and is not to be discounted, but be wary of conclusions about what it actually being accomplished by one treatment or another. It ain't necessarily so.

useful information snipped

you mean that the part about plunging the red hot sword blade into the belly of a fat eunuch for the best toughness isn't true? Eunuchs worldwide will sing your praises.

Thank God, because they're an endangered species. Their reproduction rate is terrible.

"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" wrote in news:Xns9D334F2A4AB8Alloydspmindspringcom@216.168.3.70:

So is lead shot for shotguns. It deforms less on firing, and results in a cleaner pattern. All shot I've ever seen for reloading is "chilled".

Doug White

I wish I could give the reference but some unfortunate souls were used at some point in time. Bill isn't FOS on that one. I'd never want to rely on a weapon that took an innocent life to defend me. Talk about bad Karma!

Wes

-- "Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

Well, you should also know that the most powerful gunpowder, in the 16th century or so, was alleged to be that which was moistened with the urine of a wine drinker.

On Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:36:51 -0500, the infamous Joseph Gwinn scrawled the following:

Either that, or it was Ferrous Beuller's Day Off.

Indium makes hellacious tanks! (Or so Colonel Hammer says. ;)

-- The blind are not good trailblazers.

-- federal judge Frank Easterbrook

o get the softest

nd then tipped

=A0kept the case body

Which nonferrous metals? Aluminum is not silver which is not brass/ copper which is not lead or its alloys. And none of those is platinum, iridium, tungsten, cobalt or nickel. They all have their own quirks.

Grain growth in brass has nothing to do with quenching, which is what you're doing with brass annealing. The water just keeps things from going too far, as you say. And solution hardening aluminum alloys are hardened by heating, they'd age-harden eventually, but it just speeds things up. No quenching involved. Without knowing what metal(s) he's talking about, it's hard to say.

Stan

It also reduces the likelihood of burning yourself if you subsequently pick up the wrong part bare handed.

Don't ask me how I know. :-/

Eunuchs are getting pretty scarce. Everyone seems to be running Windows these days.

Samurai swords used to be rated "one body", "two bodies". Based upon how many bodies they could slice through in one swing.

Working in the sword factory QA department must have been quite a mess.

Well, fat cat politicians might have some redeaming use.

Wes

Have plenty of fire extinguishers on hand, in case of a flash fire from all that fat. ;-)

Except the many who aren't. ;-)