reharden
Definition
Verb (transitive/intransitive): - To harden again: To make or become hard again after having been softened or after a period of being less hard. This applies especially to materials like metal, glass, or resin that undergo a process of hardening, cooling, or curing.
Usage Examples
- (The steel is made hard again after a softening process.)
- (You can make the resin hard again by cooling it.)
- (The glass was hardened a second time after initial softening.)
Advanced Usage
In metallurgy: "Reharden" is a technical term used in heat treatment processes, such as quenching and tempering, to restore hardness that was lost during annealing or other procedures.
- After the blade was annealed for shaping, it was rehardened to achieve the desired edge retention. (The metal was made hard again after a softening step.)
In material science: The term can refer to the process of re-curing or re-setting a material that has lost its hardened state due to environmental factors.
- The polymer sample was rehardened by exposing it to UV light for an additional cycle. (The material was made hard again through a secondary curing process.)
Variants and Related Words
Rehardening (noun): The process or act of making something hard again.
- The rehardening of the steel took several hours in the furnace. (The process of making the steel hard again.)
Hard (adj): Firm, solid, and not easily bent or broken.
- Harden (verb): To make or become hard.
Synonyms
- Re-solidify: to become solid again after melting or softening.
- Re-cure: to apply a curing process again (often for resins or adhesives).
- Re-temper: to treat metal again to achieve a specific hardness.
Phrasal Verbs
- (None common for "reharden"; it is typically used as a standalone verb without a particle.)
Related Idioms
- (No common idioms directly involving "reharden"; the word is technical and literal.)