Heat Treater
Summary
Heat treaters control furnaces and cooling equipment to change the physical properties of metals and metal objects, making them hard, tough, resilient or suitable for machining.
Duties & Tasks
Heat treaters may perform the following tasks:
- load items to be treated into the furnace and bring the metal to a specified temperature
- use computer controlled furnaces
- use new technologies, such as advanced vacuum furnaces
- check all gauges and controls during treatment to make sure they are working correctly
- harden metal by heating it to the required temperatures (this varies with different metals) and dipping it in oil, gas, water, brine or other solutions
- surface-harden metal components to improve their resistance to wear and abrasion
- use special instruments to test the hardness and mechanical properties of treated metals.
Working Conditions
Heat treaters often work in hot environments.
Personal Requirements
- enjoy practical and manual work
- able to work as part of a team
- enjoy working with mechanical equipment
- basic computer skills.
