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Tempers Guide

What is Metal Tempering?

Tempering metal is a heat treatment process of heating metals to their lower critical temperature. This process hardens the metal and produces enhanced properties. These properties can include increased hardness and impact-resistant material, better corrosion resistance, and increased flexibility. Some tempered metals are a better fit for specific applications because of their physical properties, such as marine, structural, or niche machining practices.

Temper Chart

A letter and number identify the tempered metal. These designations show the response of the material to the heat treatment, allowing the user to select the correct alloy for their project letter and number after the alloy number. For example, Aluminum 6063-T52, where T52 is the aluminum temper. Copper temper, brass temper, and bronze temper are also indicated by a letter and number. To decide which metal temper is right for your application, refer to the chart below which lists copper temper, brass temper, and aluminum temper.