Stress corrosion cracking is an insidious form of damage that can occur when a susceptible metal is subjected to a tensile stress in a specific environment. To relieve tensile stresses at welded joints, postweld heat treatment can be helpful in reducing the susceptibility of carbon steel fabrications to SCC. When planning to use stainless steels in chloride-containing environments, it is advisable to select alloys that have been specifically developed to resist stress chloride cracking such as ferritic-austenitic (duplex) alloys, low-carbon ferritic alloys, and 6% Mo austenitic alloys or to select high-nickel alloys.

Affordable bulk production of a newly developed nanostructured bainitic steel is possible without using severe deformation or complex heat treatments. This article discusses the characteristics and significance of nanostructured bainite in terms of the transformation mechanism.

Understanding the forces behind decarburization is the first step toward minimizing its detrimental effects. This article reviews decarburization basics and results of experimental work on spring steels.

By effectively mitigating the historical paradox between strength and ductility, a new advanced high strength steel with a mixed microconstituent structure enables automotive sheet steel to meet automobile efficiency requirements.

Induction hardening parts with small grain size achieves higher fracture strengths, but close control of thermal cycles is required to prevent grain growth.

Annealing and normalizing both involve heating metal to a temperature and cooling back to room temperature and are differentiated by the metals involved and rate of cooling. This article is an overview of annealing and normalizing processes.

From wartime use to cutlery and building facades, the stainless steel industry began to experience dynamic growth from the 1920s on, especially following World War II.

This article describes a procedure for optimizing the annealed microstructure of a high Al KAB steel. The main focus is directed toward characterization of microstructural development during annealing of different phases in a nanostructured bainitic steel using high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). This entry won the prestigious 2019 Jacquet-Lucas Award for Excellence in Metallography at the International Metallographic Contest held in Portland, Oregon, October 2019.

The 10th Liège Conference on Materials for Advanced Power Engineering was held in September 2014. This article presents conference highlights, including the current state of European materials research for advanced power engineering applications; European multinational programs in this area; and critical research topics including creep-fatigue, new alloy development, and materials developments for gas turbines.

A novel approach in the field of narrow gap laser welding produces superior weld joint quality, especially the configuration of weld toe, which has a positive effect on fatigue life.

Significant advancements in metallurgy were highlighted at a special symposium presented at the Materials Science & Technology 2016 conference in Salt Lake City. This article summarizes the topics presented. All six speakers shared examples of the importance of understanding how the specific manufacturing process affects microstructure development in metals. The fundamental understanding of microstructure allows metallurgists to select manufacturing processes and schedules to tailor the microstructure, and therefore mechanical properties and performance, for a particular component.

This article describes research leading to the development of a new grade of low temperature bainitic steels, named Kinetically Activated Bainite (KAB) steels. with exceptionally rapid transformation kinetics at temperatures below 200°C. This entry won the Jacquet-Lucas Award for Best in Show at the 2015 International Metallographic Contest.

Throughout metal making history, nothing has exceeded the technical importance, scientific complexity, and human curiosity involved in the hardening of steel. After the bustling 1890s, with its exciting and productive discoveries around steel metallography, a period of quiet consolidation occurred in the early 20th century. This article describes the breakthroughs in steel metallurgy that occurred after this period by such pioneers as William Chandler Roberts-Austen, Adolf Martens, Henry Marion Howe, and Edgar C. Bain.

Automotive designers and heat treaters have many choices when it comes to the materials and processes that will meet their overall needs. This article reviews some of the major trends affecting automotive heat treating.

An examination of a bearing failure due to mismatched and incomplete flame hardening shows the need to work with heat treaters for proper selection and application. The article includes a case study of a large bearing raceway that failed due to incomplete austenitization.

This article explains why defining gas quenching in terms of bar pressure no longer applies and how a new definition based on heat transfer and cooling rate leads to a better understanding of which steels and what cross-sections can be hardened via gas quenching.

One of the greatest advances in modern metallurgy was the discovery of a steel that does not rust, which occurred after research into high chromium steels began. French researchers began adding chromium or nickel to heat treated alloy steels during the 1880s and 1890s, while German researchers began combining chromium with nickel in the 1890s. This article recounts the early history of stainless steel.

Accurate measurement of retained austenite levels is important in the development and control of a heat treatment process.

Given the demonstrated antimicrobial properties of copper, it is incumbent upon materials scientists to design potent antimicrobial copper-containing stainless steels as an economical option.

Preventive multi-frequency testing using eddy current ensures heat-treated parts meet specifications.