Properties of carbon and alloy steels vary with their composition and microstructures, which are dependent on the heat treatment and quenching process used.

Traditionally, hot water is often selected as an alternative to cold-water quenching of heat-treatable aluminum alloys for distortion reduction. The levels of reduction are often modest, however, and more effective means are required.

Stainless steels are widely used in the chemical, petrochemical and food-processing industries due to their favorable corrosion properties. The industrial world would not exist without this class of material.[1] They exhibit generally poor tribological properties, however, which limit their applications to use in tribocorrosive environments.

Wear need not be catastrophic to cause substantial reductions in the operational efficiency of production equipment due to increased power loss, equipment downtime and lubricating-oil consumption subsequently leading to the replacement of equipment components. Thus, component wear necessitates an ongoing need to develop components with improved wear performance.