# In what ways does a magnetic piece of metal differ from a regular one?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-ways-does-a-magnetic-piece-of-metal-differ-from-a-regular-one/690902>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 16, 2014, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-ways-does-a-magnetic-piece-of-metal-differ-from-a-regular-one/690902 "2014-06-16T13:32:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-ways-does-a-magnetic-piece-of-metal-differ-from-a-regular-one/690902/21 "2014-06-19T01:45:11Z")

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> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#):
>
> We’ve always called that “hardening,” with lots of subcategories based on the details of the process. It increases hardness, but unfortunately also brittleness. Tempering involves less heating and slower cooling, and gives up a bit of the new hardness, but increases toughness and decreases brittleness.

As a wannabe-blacksmith (I have recently acquired a Peter Wright anvil and am starting to buy hammers and think about a forge, so take what I say with huge grains of salt) I have been reading up on the quenching process and one of the tests to see if a piece of steel is ready for quench is to hold a magnet against and if there is no magnetic attraction, the steel is hot enough for quenching.

No idea what that means or if I am describing it right, just putting it out there as a random fact.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-ways-does-a-magnetic-piece-of-metal-differ-from-a-regular-one/690902/22 "2014-06-19T01:48:09Z")

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Makes sense. High temperatures jumble up the magnetic domains, completely randomizing them at a temperature called the Curie temperature.

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**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-what-ways-does-a-magnetic-piece-of-metal-differ-from-a-regular-one/690902/23 "2014-06-19T06:16:28Z")

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Not the Curie Temperature in this case. At 730°C, steel transforms into austenite, with a different, nonmagnetic structure. Austenite has better properties, so it’s more desirable.

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