1. The role and challenges of heat treatment

The term "heat treatment" is now reserved for intentional operations designed to adapt the structural characteristics of blanks or finished parts to the conditions in which they are to be used or processed, by subjecting them to appropriate solid-phase thermal cycles. The modification of the alloy's physico-chemical structure may be intended to optimize intermediate or final mechanical properties, but sometimes also other properties of use: resistance in different media, electrical or magnetic properties, adhesion of certain coatings, etc. If these operations are not to be considered as primarily the domain of deposits or coatings, the structural modifications brought about by the thermal treatment must be considered as essential...