​​​​Callum O'Dwyer

The experiments explored variables in the following parameters:

 

• Carbon Content - a low carbon steel and a medium level carbon steel was selected. This was not the desired carbon content of steel, a further explanation can be found in Project Difficulties. However, the steels used reflect the range of carbon content used in steel use - low carbon steels are generally used for more structural purposes due to their ductility and overall strength, while higher carbon steels have greater hardness but reduced toughness and are thus more likely to be used as tool bits or machinery components, for example.  
   

• The maximum temperature the steel was heated to, and thus different areas of the phase diagram. See Heat Treatment and Cooling for more details. This will effect the size of the grains present in the steels, which larger grains formed in the Austenitic range, and smaller grains in the Duplex Range.
   

• Cooling rates - an extremely slow cool where the specimens were left in the furnace after treatment, at an approximate cooling rate of 40K/hour, and at the other extreme a rapid quench in iced brine. The slow cools are likely to produce micrographs similar to equilibrium conditions, whereas quenches will produce more unpredictable behaviour, increasing the possibility of martensite and bainite.

 

The below table illustrates the variable permutations: