Heat Treatment is an operation, or combination of operations, which involves the controlled heating and/or cooling of a metal or alloy in the

solid state (without melting) in order to change its properties. There are many forms of heat treating including annealing, normalizing, quenching, & tempering. Different processes or combinations of processes are used depending on the desired outcome. Possible objectives of heat treating processes can be: 1. To soften for easier shaping or machining. 2. To relieve stress forming operations can leave certain areas under stress. These stresses can weaken & lead to premature failure of a product. 3. To homogenize to obtain compositional uniformity throughout. 4. To toughen increase the ability of a product made of steel to absorb energy or withstand occasional stresses without fracturing. In metallurgy, toughness is the resistance to fracture of a material when suddenly stressed. It is defined as the amount of energy that a material can absorb before breaking. 5. To harden make resistant to wear (scratching & abrasion), cutting & deformation. 6. Other special treatments to add or remove elements through the surface; to develop electrical or magnetic properties. Steel Making & Bessey Quality Control Besseys heat treated to the core claim implies that the Bessey clamps have had their molecular structure optimized throughout for the best combination of mechanical properties. Having an ISO certification means that Bessey has a controlled process that ensures product consistency. This is one of the reasons that an ISO certification is a critical credential and why Besseys steel manufacturing ability (from raw ore to finished product) is so crucial. Bessey is the first clamp manufacturer in the world to get an ISO 9001 certificate. Bessey has total control over the raw materials as well as the clamp manufacturing process. Companies that assemble products made from parts and or raw materials from various suppliers do not have the same degree of quality control as Bessey (from raw ore to finished product).