Safety in the workplace regarding heat treatment connects each and every person who works in either a captive or a commercial shop. We all have an obligation to one another to minimize the risk of accidents and injuries (no matter how minimal or extensive that injury might be). 
 

The cause of the retained austenite can be attributed to the following conditions...

If the material is low on hardness or even totally soft, it is usually incorrect material. This can have occurred either by selection at the merchant or mixed at the purchaser’s operation.

This blog series is designed to help you troubleshoot your heat-treatment problem. It will show you how to be effective, efficient and logical in your troubleshooting and help you determine if the problem is process, material, design or control.

David Pye's series on normalizing forged aerospace components concludes with part 5.

We continue our discussion of normalizing.

The next question to be asked is, "How do we cool after normalizing?" The generally accepted method of cooling is to “cool in still air and free from drafts.” While this is a general statement and a generally accepted practice, it does not ensure a repeatable and consistent final metallurgy.

The normalizing process is generally applied to unalloyed steels or low-alloy (hypoeutectoid) steels (i.e., steels with a carbon content lower than 0.77%). Normalizing is applied to hypereutectoid steels (i.e., steels with a carbon content greater 0.77%) only in special cases.  

The forging of a steel component to arrive at a rough shape prior to machining is a procedure that has been adopted almost from the time that man discovered iron. Forging is a not only an ancient craft, it is a science in the manipulation of steel into a predetermined shape that is roughly the final shape of the component to be manufactured.

A second consideration would be to purchase a simple notebook. Every metal that you process, draw out a sketch and add the analysis from the test certificate.