Stainless heat treat discoloration

[Seffers93]

Hey guys,

Quick question about a piece of stainless. This is my first time working with stainless. AEB-L. Sent out for professional HT and came back with this discoloration. Just wanted to see if this is normal or if the steel got burnt

Thanks in advance!

Seth

 

[VICTOR J CREAZZI]

Full discloser, I have zero experience heat treating stainless.

I do know that high alloy steels are wrapped in stainless foil (heat treating foil) to keep oxygen away. I suspect that the foil envelope had a small leak on this blade. Assuming that you can polish it out I would not expect any other damage.

 

[Seffers93]

Full discloser, I have zero experience heat treating stainless.

I do know that high alloy steels are wrapped in stainless foil (heat treating foil) to keep oxygen away. I suspect that the foil envelope had a small leak on this blade. Assuming that you can polish it out I would not expect any other damage.

Thanks for the insight! Much appreciated!

 

[Dominick Maone]

It is normal. These are all AEB-L professionally heat treated. When they close the foil there is always a bit of oxygen left in the envelope that causes this. It is decarburization I believe. Sometimes they will put in baby powder or a piece of paper to help eat up the oxygen.

 

[Seffers93]

View attachment 107058View attachment 107059View attachment 107060
It is normal. These are all AEB-L professionally heat treated. When they close the foil there is always a bit of oxygen left in the envelope that causes this. It is decarburization I believe. Sometimes they will put in baby powder or a piece of paper to help eat up the oxygen.

Good to know! Thank you!

 

[inferno]

its oxidation. the color indicates the depth of the oxide. you get a similar results when tempering on open air. and you can judge the temp by the color. again the color indicates the depth of the oxide. the color is because of destructive and constructive optical interference. its on the order of nanometers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_interference

 

[inferno]

moar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin-film_interference