While in the U.K. on metallurgical consulting assignments, the writer was presented with a problem of varying surface hardness due to inconsistent formations of retained austenite on repeated batches of carburized and hardened heat-treated components.

This is a continuation of part 3, which can be found here.

If the steel part has been surface treated by the following, one cannot always grind into the finished surface to prepare for hardness testing.

If the steel is decarburized, it means the surface of the steel has lost carbon. If either of the conditions described in part 1 exists, the steel will have been subjected to...

The result of hardness testing is what is used as the first level of interpreting the correctness of the heat-treatment procedure.

Previously, we described the situation and discussed the heat-treatment operation. In this blog we will finish with a discussion of our observations and the remedy.

Here’s some information on an interesting assignment we had. We will describe the situation and discuss the heat-treatment operation in this blog. Next time, we will finish with a discussion of our observations and the remedy. Can you figure it out before the reveal?

This is a continuation of David's first blog post in almost two years, which can be read here.

We have returned to the U.S. after eight (or so) years of working internationally in the U.K., Europe, India, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines. The work has been both exciting and extremely interesting, focusing on the following subjects...

It cannot be more strongly emphasized that when using any heat-treatment salts (low-temperature or high-temperature salts) the utmost of care be taken.