Heat-Treatment of Steels Containing Fifty and Eighty Hundredths Per Cent of Carbon.

THE experiments of which the results and significance are set forth in this paper do not by any means cover the whole subject of the heat-treatment of the material referred to, yet they constitute a contribution to that general subject, rather than to the special department of annealing. The material here considered is acid open-hearth steel, containing from 0.50 to 0.80 per cent of carbon, with a nearly uniform percentage of other elements. This class of steel is rapidly increasing in commercial importance. It is even rumored that the rail-specifications of some railroads will hereafter require open-hearth steel. Yet this particular grade seems to have received less study and description from the standpoint of the metallographist than many others. The investigation here described was directed to the following points:-Steel containing about 0.50 per cent, of carbon : 1. The structure as related to the temperature, at the same rate of cooling; 3. The structure and physical properties as related to temperature at different rates of cooling; 3. The structure and physical properties as related to different finishing-temperatures and different rates of cooling; 4. The bearing of these observations upon the statement of Prof. Albert Sauveur.1