The Effect of Tempering Treatment: ON THE CORROSION RESISTANCE OF HARDENED 13% CHROMIUM STEELS

The 12 to 14% chromium group of stainless steels containing between 0.05 and 0.3% of carbon has been extensively used in industry for many years and the range of mechanical properties which may be obtained with these materials by applying various tempering treatments after thermal hardening is well known. The author here describes an investigation in which a quantitative study has been made of the effect of these treatments on three steels of differing carbon contents and it is shown that corrosion resistance can be markedly affected by the tempering treatment.