Tempering is a heat treatment technique for
metals, alloys and glass. In steels, tempering is done to "toughen" the metal by transforming brittle martensite into bainite or a combination of ferrite and cementite. Precipitation hardening alloys, like many grades of
aluminum and superalloys, are tempered to precipitate intermetallic particles which strengthen the metal. Tempering is accomplished by a controlled reheating of the work piece to a temperature below its lower critical temperature.
