Temper
A condition produced in a metal or alloy by mechanical or thermal treatment and having characteristics structure and mechanical properties. A given alloy may be in the fully softened or annealed temper, or it may be cold worked to the hard temper, or further to spring temper. Intermediate tempers produced by cold working (rolling or drawing) are called "quarter hard", "half-hard" and "three quarters hard", and are determined by the amount of cold reduction and the resulting tensile properties. In addition to the annealed temper, conditions produced by thermal treatment are the solution heat-treated temper and the heat-treated and artificially aged temper. Other tempers involve a combination of mechanical and thermal treatments and include that temper produced by cold working after heat treating, and that produced by artificial aging of alloys that are as-cast, as-extruded, as-forged and heat treated, and worked.
