critical temperaturenoun [ S ]
uk/ˌkrɪt.ɪ.kəl ˈtem.prə.tʃər//ˌkrɪt̬.ɪ.kəl ˈtem.pɚ.ə.tʃɚ/specializedthe highest temperature at which a gas can be changed into a liquid
Examples from literature
- Furnace annealing is much better and consists in heating the piece in a furnace to the critical temperature and then allowing the work and the furnace to cool together.
- Here, too, there were no seas, for the temperature was above the critical temperature of water, and only in the self-cooling bodies of these men and in the trees which similarly cooled themselves, could there be liquid.
- Its critical temperatures will be located at slightly different heats than for a steel which has a different proportion of alloying elements.
- The critical temperatures are the proper ones for annealing as well as hardening.