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“How hard do my metal parts need to be?”

This is one of our most-asked questions at Paulo, and for good reason! The hardness of your parts directly affects how they perform in service and how long they last. 

In this episode of Metallurgy Minute, Ryan Van Dyke takes a closer look at bolts to demonstrate how to use knowledge of existing part grades and their correlated Rockwell rating to determine what hardness you need for a particular application.

Industry References for Part Hardness

Referencing the ASTM and SAE for the application you’re designing for is a great place to start. Once you’ve determined the spec for your part, a combination of material choice, manufacturing type, and thermal processing can be used to achieve required material properties. 

In some cases, like with additive manufacturing or developing parts for EVTOL or space, working with a commercial heat treater can prove invaluable to the R&D process. Partnering with an outside team gives you access to extensive metallurgical knowledge and the most advanced thermal processing equipment which makes it possible to rapidly prove parts and scale for production. 

Planning Your Next Project

At Paulo, our metallurgical team is well known for working closely with industry leaders to support them in bringing innovative part solutions to market. If you need help planning your next project, connect with one of our experts today.

Additive Manufacturing | Aerospace | Air Furnace | Annealing | Austempering | Automotive | Bearing & Gears | Binder Jetting | Black Oxide Coating | Blasting | Brake Rotors | Carbonitriding | Carburizing | Case Hardening | Casting | Clips | Continuous Austemper Furnace (Salt Quench) | Continuous Belt Furnace | Continuous Hydrogen Belt Furnace | Cryogenic & Deep Freezes | Cryogenic & Deep Freezing | Engineering Alloys | Fasteners | Ferritic Nitrocarburizing | Gas Nitriding | Heat Treating | High Carbon Steels | Hot Isostatic Press | Hot Isostatic Pressing | Integral Quench | Investment Casting | Iron | Low Carbon Steels | Machined Parts | Machining | Martempering | Nickel-Based | Powder Metallurgy | Precipitation Hardening | Seat Belt Buckles | Space | Specialty Alloy Steels | Stampings & Fineblankings | Through Hardening | Titanium | Vacuum Furnace | Vacuum Heat Treating | Vacuum Nitriding | Vacuum Purge Nitriding Furnace
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