Abstract
The adsorption of boron and other interstitial solute elements in the quenched state could be made well observable by etching the steel with aqueous solution of NaOH-NaNO3. Boron atoms adsorbed on a grain surface fill up the lattice defects or diffusion holes, reducing the internal strains induced by these imperfections; in other words, these atoms diminish the unstability of austenite grain boundaries and can suppress the transformations beginning there.
