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This section provides an overview for hardening services as well as their applications and principles. Also, please take a look at the list of 7 hardening service companies and their company rankings. Here are the top-ranked hardening service companies as of March, 2026: 1.Advanced Heat Treat Corp., 2.Sacher, 3.Precision Thermal Processing, Inc..
Table of Contents
Work hardening services refers to a phenomenon in which a metal becomes harder when a force is applied to it.
The phenomenon in which a wire becomes harder and more brittle and breaks when bent is an example of hardening services. As hardness increases, tenacity, such as elongation and drawing, will decrease.
As the degree of work hardening increases, the microstructure is disrupted, electrical resistance increases, and specific gravity decreases. When work-hardened materials are heated, the transitions increased by work hardening dissipate and soften. In hot work, heat softens the material, whereas in cold work, only hardening services occurs, making the material hard and brittle.
Work hardening services are used to improve the strength of materials that cannot be quenched, such as aluminum and stainless steel. In the case of steel, it is sometimes used in combination with annealing after cold working, and is applied to gears and automotive springs.
Annealing removes internal strains and residual stresses that have increased due to hardening services, making the product less susceptible to cracking and more tough. When an item is cold worked, crystals are distorted and irregularly arranged, but when heated to the recrystallization temperature, the rearrangement of crystal grains can change the material into a hard and elastic material.
When a load is first applied to a metal, the metal is deformed, but after the load is removed, the deformation may or may not return to its original state. The return to the original state is called elastic deformation, and the failure to return to the original state is called plastic deformation. Plastic deformation is a phenomenon in which atoms slide across a certain crystal plane. Plastic deformation is caused by the movement of transitions, which are linear lattice defects.
A material that is easy to move easily undergoes plastic deformation, while a material that is hard to move due to the accumulation of transitions becomes a hard material. The ease of hardening services depends on the material, and the hardening services index (n-value) is used as a guide. In the curve showing the relationship between stress on the vertical axis and strain on the horizontal axis, the relationship between stress and strain in the plastic region above the yield point is as follows:
σ = Cεn
The larger the n value, the easier hardening services will become. Work hardening services make the material harder, but also makes it more brittle. This is based on the principle of eliminating dislocations by heating to the recrystallization temperature, where the movement of atoms becomes active.
*Including some distributors, etc.
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Bodycote Thermal Processing, founded in 1923 and headquartered in Macclesfield, Cheshire, is a supplier of heat treatment and specialist thermal processing services. The company offers an array of services, including heat treatments that enhance the properties of metals and alloys, metal joining for welding or bonding metals, hot isostatic pressing to reduce metal porosity, and surface technology for altering material surfaces to achieve specific properties. Operating from over 165 locations, the company provides its services to customers worldwide. Its certifications include OHSAS 18001:2007, ISO 14001, and ISO 9001:2015.
Ranking as of March 2026
Derivation Method| Rank | Company | Click Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Advanced Heat Treat Corp. |
25.0%
|
| 2 | Sacher |
20.0%
|
| 3 | Precision Thermal Processing, Inc. |
15.0%
|
| 4 | Invesics Cyber Forensics LLP |
10.0%
|
| 5 | Network Intelligence |
10.0%
|
| 6 | Bodycote plc |
10.0%
|
| 7 | Ceradel Industries |
5.0%
|
| 8 | BeyondTrust Corporation |
5.0%
|
Derivation Method
The ranking is calculated based on the click share within the hardening service page as of March 2026. Click share is defined as the total number of clicks for all companies during the period divided by the number of clicks for each company.Number of Employees
Newly Established Company
Company with a History
*Including some distributors, etc.
| Country | Number of Companies | Share (%) |
|---|---|---|
|
India
|
1 | 50.0% |
|
United Kingdom
|
1 | 50.0% |
