Abstract
The cause leading to the improvement of properties in specimens of alloys and solid solutions subjected to the pretreatment of strain-tempering was studied, using samples of heat-treated 0.4% and 0.8% C-steel, and in correlation with it, the removal of the fibre structure and the relation between the fibre structure and the microscopic structure were also investigated. The results obtained were as follows: (1) Cold-rolled specimens show heterogenous microscopic structures in them accompanying fibre structure, causing defects in the specimens. (2) By strain-tempering under appropriate conditions, such a fibre structure can be removed and the microscopic structure of the specimen homogenized. (3) The effect of strain-tempering in removing the fibre structure seems to cause improvement of the mechanical and the physical properties of the specimens when heat-treated thereafter, over those subjected to heat-treatment alone. (4) Our discovery of such effects of strain-tempering has led us to devise a new method of heat-treatment.
