case-harden
/ˈkeɪsˌhɑːdn
/verb [with object]
1Harden the surface of (a material): the blades are case-hardened with reinforced backing plates...
- When the stone was properly seasoned, the exposed surfaces were case-hardened, creating a finish more resistant to weathering.
1.1Give a hard surface to (iron or steel) by carburizing it: the grade of steel was unsuitable for the type of heat treatment used to case-harden the gears...
- The bolts are similarly machined from case-hardened steel alloy.
- Fusion-welded overlays have strong bonds, but the primary surface-hardened steels used in wear applications with fatigue loads include heavy case-hardened steels and flame or induction-hardened steels.
- It is made of 14-gauge steel and features a pry-resistant door that locks with four half-inch diameter, case-hardened steel bolts.
1.2Make (someone) callous or tough: years of surgical experience did not case-harden him to suffering...
- But those same flames also case-hardened developing nations.
- But, regardless of how well the interviewers are trained, case-hardened criminals are unlikely to take these bogus coppers seriously, and might find it easy to ‘pull the wool over their eyes’.
- Sometimes, even when you are a case-hardened professional, you see history differently.