String Breakage (Reply)

[John Ross]

Hi Ron,
Does your book have the data on brass.
I lost my notes from the class I attended in Dearborn.
There was a class on annealing the brass rails. He passed around a sample of
annealed and not annealed. The annealed one was noticeably more flexible.
I have since wondered, if putting it in an oven on the self-clean cycle, would
accomlish the same thing.
Regards,
John M. Ross
Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada

Ron Nossaman wrote:

> At 10:36 AM 1/20/99 -0500, you wrote:
> >OK, Ron, I have a friend who is a metallurgist.  I will ask him what
> >happens re:
> >
> >metal fatigue
> >annealing
> >work hardening
> >
> >and I will get back to you.
> >
> >            Newton
>
> My Tool Engineers Handbook (ain't estate sales great?) indicates an
> annealing temperature for (generically) high carbon steel at 1400-1450 F. I
> don't have specific temps for music wire, but it's in a similar range. Tool
> Steel Simplified says to cool slowly in the furnace after heating to anneal.
> Hardening with heat requires 100 degrees, or so, higher temperatures and
> more rapid cooling, usually by quenching. Tempering is a sort of controlled
> partial annealing from maximum hardness. Bending doesn't heat the wire
> nearly enough to either anneal, heat harden or temper it. It does, however
> work harden. I would like a good explanation of why metals work harden, if
> you'll ask your friend about that while you're at it.
>
> Thanks,
>  Ron