temper

(tĕm'pər)

1. To modify by the addition of a moderating element; moderate: "temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom" (Robert H. Jackson). See synonyms at moderate.
2. To bring to a desired consistency, texture, hardness, or other physical condition by or as if by blending, admixing, or kneading: temper clay; paints that had been tempered with oil.
3. To harden or strengthen (metal or glass) by application of heat or by heating and cooling.
4. To strengthen through experience or hardship; toughen: soldiers who had been tempered by combat.
5. To adjust finely; attune: a portfolio that is tempered to the investor's needs.
6. Music. To adjust (the pitch of an instrument) to a temperament.

1. A state of mind or emotions; disposition: an even temper. See synonyms at mood¹.
2. Calmness of mind or emotions; composure: lose one's temper.
3. 1. A tendency to become easily angry or irritable: a quick temper.
   2. An outburst of rage: a fit of temper.
4. A characteristic general quality; tone: heroes who exemplified the medieval temper; the politicized temper of the 1930s.
5. 1. The condition of being tempered.
   2. The degree of hardness and elasticity of a metal, chiefly steel, achieved by tempering.
6. A modifying substance or agent added to something else.
7. Archaic. A middle course between extremes; a mean.

[Middle English temperen, from Old English temprian, from Latin temperāre, probably from variant of tempus, tempor-, time, season.]

View more Science videos

For more information on tempering, visit Britannica.com.

The reheating of previously quenched alloy to a predetermined temperature below the critical range, holding the alloy for a specified time at that temperature, and then cooling it at a controlled rate, usually by immediate rapid quenching, to room temperature. The term is broadly applied to any process that toughens a material.

In alloys, if the composition is such that cooling produces a supersaturated solid solution, the resulting material is brittle. Heating the alloy to a temperature only high enough to allow the excess solute to precipitate out and then rapidly cooling the saturated solution fast enough to prevent further precipitation or grain growth result in a microstructure combining hardness and toughness.

With steel, the tempering must be carried out by slow heating to avoid steep temperature gradients, stress relief being one of the objectives. Properties produced by tempering depend on the temperature to which the steel is raised and on its alloy composition. For example, if hardness is to be retained, molybdenum or tungsten is used in the alloy. See also Heat treatment (metallurgy).

A technique by which chocolate is stabilized through a melting-and-cooling process, thereby making it more malleable and glossy. Commerically available chocolate is already tempered, but this condition changes when chocolate is melted. Tempering chocolate isn't necessary for most recipes, but is often done when the chocolate will be used for candymaking or decorations. Chocolate must be tempered because it contains cocoa butter a fat that may form crystals after chocolate is melted and cooled. If these crystals aren't stabilized through tempering, they can form dull gray streaks called bloom. The classic tempering method is to melt chocolate until it reaches a temperature of 115°F. Two-thirds of the melted chocolate is then spread on a marble slab and worked back and forth with a metal spatula until it becomes thick and reaches a temperature of about 80°F. This thickened chocolate is then transferred back into the remaining one-third melted chocolate and reheated to about 89°F. For semisweet chocolate, about 85°F for milk or white chocolate. The quick tempering method is to melt two-thirds of the chocolate to be tempered to a temperature of 115°F then add the remaining one-third (finely chopped) chocolate to the melted mixture, stirring until the mixture has reached 89°F and is smooth. See also chocolate.

verb

To make or become less severe or extreme: moderate, mute, qualify, soften, subdue, tame, tone down. See increase/decrease.

noun

1. A person's customary manner of emotional response: complexion, disposition, humor, nature, temperament. See be.
2. A temporary state of mind or feeling: frame of mind, humor, mood, spirit (used in plural), vein. See feelings.
3. A tendency to become angry or irritable: irascibility, irascibleness, spleen, temperament, tetchiness. Informal dander. Slang short fuse. Idioms: low boiling point. See feelings.
4. An angry outburst: fit², huff, passion, tantrum. Informal conniption, conniption fit. See feelings.
5. A prevailing quality, as of thought, behavior, or attitude: climate, mood, spirit, tone. See attitude/good attitude/bad attitude/neutral attitude.

Definition: angriness; bad mood
Antonyms: happiness

n

Definition: calmness
Antonyms: upset, wrath

v

Definition: calm, moderate
Antonyms: aggravate, agitate, excite, infuriate, upset

v

Definition: harden
Antonyms: bend, flex, soften

1. To mix lime, sand, and water in such proportions as to make mortar for masonry or plastering.
2. To moisten and mix clay to proper consistency to form bricks, etc., prior to hardening by fire.
3. To bring to a proper degree of hardness and elasticity for use, as steel or other metal, by heat treatment.
4. To impregnate wood fibers or composition board with a drying oil or other oxidizing resin and subsequently to cure with heat so as to improve the strength, hardness, water resistance, and durability of the board.

Quotes:

"Many people lose their tempers merely from seeing you keep yours." - Frank Moore Colby

"A fretful temper will divide the closest knot that may be tied, by ceaseless sharp corrosion; a temper passionate and fierce may suddenly your joys disperse at one immense explosion." - William Cowper

"A lady of what is commonly called an uncertain temper -- a phrase which being interpreted signifies a temper tolerably certain to make everybody more or less uncomfortable." - Charles Dickens

"It was not that she was out of temper, but that the world was not equal to the demands of her fine organism." - George Eliot

"Men lose their tempers in defending their taste." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Good temper is one of the greatest preservers of the features." - William Hazlitt

See more famous quotes about Temper

The hardening or toughening of steels by heating. Treatment of an alloy in such a manner that solid-solid transformation occurs. Precipitation of intermetallic substances occurs, increasing the proportional limit and hardness of the alloy.

• Preparations and Presentations - temper: (vb) prepare egg for immersion in hot liquid
• Sculpture Tools and Techniques - temper: (vb) achieve desired consistency or hardness by mixing or treating, esp. by suddenly cooling heated metal

For other uses, see Temper (disambiguation).

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (October 2009)

Tempered steel. The various colors produced indicate the temperature to which the steel was heated. Light-straw indicates 204 °C (399 °F) and light blue indicates 337 °C (639 °F).^[1][2]

Tempering is a heat treatment technique applied to metals, alloys, and glass to achieve greater toughness by increasing the strength of materials and/or ductility. Tempering is performed by a controlled reheating of the work piece to a temperature below its lower eutectic critical temperature. Precise control of time and temperature during the tempering process are critical to achieve the desired balance of physical properties.

In steels, tempering is accomplished by altering the size and distribution of non-ferrous elements. Precipitation hardening alloys, like many grades of aluminum and superalloys, are tempered to precipitate intermetallic particles. In glass, tempering is accomplished by balancing internal stresses in the crystalline structure.

Contents 1 Effects 2 Tempering in steel 2.1 Quench and self-temper 2.2 Blacksmithing 3 Tempering in precipitation hardened alloys 4 Tempered glass 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

Effects

Toughness, hardness, impact resistance, and machinability may be improved by adjusting the strength of the material, the plasticity, the flexibility, and the balance between these properties.

• Strength is the ability to bear loads and resist structural failure due to fracture or excessive deformation under stress.
• Plasticity is the ability to resist stress fractures by deforming in a manner that does not spontaneously return to its original shape. This is proportional to the ductility or malleability of the substance.
• Flexibility is the ability to deform elastically and return to the original shape once the external stress is removed.

Tempering in steel

Main article: Austempering

Typically steel is tempered in a multi-step austempering process. First it is heated to create a solid solution of iron and carbon in a process called austenitizing. Heating is followed by quenching to produce a martensite microstructure. The steel is then further tempered by heating between the ranges of 150–260 °C (302–500 °F) and 370–650 °C (698–1202 °F). Tempering in the range of 260–370 °C (500–698 °F) is sometimes avoided to reduce temper brittling. The steel is held at that temperature until the carbon trapped in the martensite diffuses to produce a chemical composition with the potential to create either bainite or pearlite (a crystal structure formed from a mixture of ferrite (iron) and cementite). When producing a truly bainitic or pearlitic steel the steel must be once again taken up to the austenite region (austenitizing) and cooled slowly to a controlled temperature before being fully quenched to a low temperature. In bainitic steels, upper bainite or lower bainite may form depending on the duration and temperature of the tempering process. It is thermodynamically impossible that the martensite will be totally converted during tempering, so a mixture of martensite, bainite, ferrite and cementite is often formed.

Quench and self-temper

Modern reinforcing bar of 500 MPa strength can be made from expensive microalloyed steel or by a quench and self-temper (QST) process. After the bar exits the final rolling pass, where the final shape of the bar is applied, the bar is then sprayed with water which quenches the outer surface of the bar. The bar speed and the amount of water are carefully controlled in order to leave the core of the bar unquenched. The hot core then tempers the already quenched outer part, leaving a bar with high strength but with a certain degree of ductility too.

Blacksmithing

Main article: Forge

The temperatures used in tempering are often too low to be gauged by the color of the workpiece. In this case, the blacksmith will heat the work piece for a known amount of time. Doing this ensures a certain degree of consistency in the tempering process from work piece to work piece. The cumulative effects of time and temperature can also be gauged by monitoring the color of the oxide film formed while tempering a well-polished blade.

Tempering in precipitation hardened alloys

Before a precipitation hardened alloy can be tempered, it must be placed in solution. During this process, the alloy is heated to dissolve and uniformly distribute alloying elements. The alloy is then quenched at a rate of cooling high enough to prevent the alloying elements from falling out of solution. The alloy is then tempered, by heating at temperatures lower than the dissolving temperature.

During tempering, the alloying elements will diffuse through the alloy and react to form intermetallic compounds. The intermetallic compounds are not soluble in the alloy, and will precipitate, forming small particles. These particles strengthen the metal by impeding the movement of dislocations through the crystal structure of the alloy. Careful manipulation of tempering time and temperature allows the size and amount of precipitates to be controlled, thus tailoring the mechanical properties of the alloy.

Tempering in aluminum is also referred to as "aging". Artificially aged alloys are tempered at elevated temperature, while naturally aging alloys may be tempered at room temperature.

Alloy systems with a large number of alloying elements, like some superalloys, may be subjected to several tempering operations. During each operation a different precipitate is formed, resulting in a large number of different precipitates that are difficult to drive back into solution. This phenomenon contributes to the high temperature strength of precipitation hardened superalloys.

Tempered glass

Main article: Toughened glass

Tempering, or toughening, of glass is a process in which glass is first heated above its annealing temperature (about 720°C), and then rapidly cooled by jets of cool air, thus hardening the surface of the glass and leaving the centre soft for a period of time. This creates internal stresses in the glass. If the glass is broken, it will break into many small pieces instead of simply cracking, making it far safer. Another advantage is that tempered glass can be up to four times stronger than regular glass. However, tempered glass cannot be cut to shape or drilled once it has been toughened.

See also

• Annealing (metallurgy)
• Austempering
• Precipitation strengthening

References

1. ^ Light, its interaction with art and antiquities By Thomas B. Brill - Plenum Publishing 1980 Page 55
2. ^ Andrews, Jack (1994). New Edge of the Anvil: a resource book for the blacksmith. pp. 98-99

Manufacturing Processes Reference Guide by Robert H. Todd, Dell K. Allen, and Leo Alting pg. 410

External links

• A thorough discussion of tempering processes
• Webpage showing heating glow and tempering colors

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - humør, lune
v. tr. - mildne, dæmpe, temperere, sammensætte, afpasse, stemme
v. intr. - blande sig i, blive i mildere lune

idioms:

• in a bad temper    i dårligt humør
• in a good temper    i godt humør
• keep one's temper    beherske sig, lægge bånd på sig selv
• lose one's temper    miste selvbeherskelsen
• out of temper    vred, gal i hovedet
• show temper    være aggressiv

Nederlands (Dutch)
temperament, humeur, drift(bui), bui, matigen, verzachten, harden

Français (French)
n. - humeur, caractère, (Ind) trempe
v. tr. - tempérer, (Ind) tremper
v. intr. - être/devenir trempé (acier)

idioms:

• in a bad temper    (être) de mauvaise humeur
• in a good temper    (être) de bonne humeur
• in a temper    (piquer) une crise
• keep one's temper    se contrôler
• lose one's temper    se mettre en colère
• out of temper    (être) de mauvaise humeur
• show temper    montrer du caractère, montrer de la mauvaise humeur

Deutsch (German)
n. - Temperament, Ärger, Laune, Ruhe, Härte
v. - mäßigen, mildern, härten, temperieren, den richtigen Härtegrad erreichen

idioms:

• in a bad temper    schlecht gelaunt
• in a good temper    gut gelaunt
• in a temper    wütend sein
• keep one's temper    sich beherrschen
• lose one's temper    die Beherrschung bei jdm. verlieren
• out of temper    ärgerlich, gereizt
• show temper    ein gereiztes Wesen an den Tag legen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ιδιοσυγκρασία, ψυχισμός, χαρακτήρας, διάθεση, ταμπεραμέντο, θυμός, εκνευρισμός (κν. τσατίλα), (τεχνολ.) σκλήρυνση
v. - σκληρύνω, ψυχρατσαλώνω, (μέταλλο), απαλύνω, μαλακώνω, συγκρατώ, αμβλύνω, μετριάζω

idioms:

• in a bad temper    κακόκεφος, σε κακή διάθεση
• in a good temper    σε καλή διάθεση
• keep one's temper    διατηρώ την αυτοκυριαρχία/ψυχραιμία μου
• lose one's temper    χάνω την αυτοκυριαρχία/ψυχραιμία μου
• out of temper    κακόκεφος
• show temper    είμαι εκνευρισμένος/τσαντισμένος

Italiano (Italian)
moderare, temprare, indurirsi, temperamento, collera

idioms:

• in a bad temper    di malumore
• in a good temper    di buon umore
• out of temper    incollerito
• show temper    impermalosirsi

Português (Portuguese)
n. - temperamento (m), gênio (m), humor (m), calma (f), mau gênio (m)
v. - moderar, temperar, endurecer

idioms:

• in a bad temper    de mal humor
• in a good temper    de bom humor
• keep one's temper    controlar-se
• lose one's temper    perder a paciência
• out of temper    zangado
• show temper    estar irritado

Русский (Russian)
нрав. характер, душевный склад, темперамент, сдержанность, самообладание, настроение, расположение духа, степень твердости/упругости материала/вещества, (металлургия) процентное содержание углерода (в стали), (хим.) состав, закалять, закаливать, умерять, смягчать, смешивать, регулировать, сочетать, доводить до нужного состояния

idioms:

• in a bad temper    в дурном расположении духа
• in a good temper    добродушный, добродушно
• keep one's temper    сдерживаться
• lose one's temper    выйти из себя, потерять самообладание
• out of temper    не в настроении
• show temper    показать свой нрав

Español (Spanish)
n. - temple, temperamento, cólera, humor, disposición, calma, complexión
v. tr. - suavizar, afinar, moderar, templar, atemperar, ajustar, acomodar
v. intr. - ponerse en su punto, ablandarse

idioms:

• in a bad temper    de mal humor
• in a good temper    de buen humor
• in a temper    acceso de cólera
• keep one's temper    mantener la calma
• lose one's temper    perder la calma, encolerizarse
• out of temper    fuera de sus casillas, de mal temple
• show temper    de malhumor

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - humör, lynne, sinnelag, temperament, dåligt lynne, härdningsgrad
v. - blanda, älta, bearbeta, härda, mildra, dämpa

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
脾气, 趋向, 调剂, 锻炼, 使缓和, 经回火后具有的韧度

idioms:

• in a bad temper    心情不好
• in a good temper    心情好
• keep one's temper    忍耐
• lose one's temper    发脾气
• out of temper    发脾气的
• show temper    急躁

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 脾氣, 趨向, 調劑
v. tr. - 鍛煉, 使緩和, 調劑
v. intr. - 經回火後具有的韌度

idioms:

• in a bad temper    心情不好
• in a good temper    心情好
• keep one's temper    忍耐
• lose one's temper    發脾氣
• out of temper    發脾氣的
• show temper    急躁

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 기질, 침착
v. tr. - 완화하다, 섞다, 달구어 단련하다
v. intr. - 누그러지다, 알맞게 달구어 지다, 유연해지다

idioms:

• in a bad temper    기분이 언짢아
• in a good temper    기분이 좋아
• keep one's temper    노기를 누르다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 鍛える, 適度の硬さにする, 和らげる, 練る, こねる, 加減する
n. - 気分, 機嫌, 気性, 癇癪, 硬度, 弾性, 気質, 落ち着き

idioms:

• out of temper    怒って

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) حاله وسطى, وسط (فعل) يلطف‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מצב-רוח, רוגז, נטייה להתקפי-זעם, קור-רוח, הלך-נפש, מזג, אופי, קשיות, מידת הקשיות והגמישות של מתכת‬
v. tr. - ‮ריכך, ריפה, מיתן, מהל, ערבב, הקל, המתיק, כעוונן (פסנתר)‬
v. intr. - ‮התרכך, התרפה, התמתן, נמהל, התערבב, הוקל, הומתק‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.