ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the process involved in the Heat-Treatment of Plain-Carbon Steels. It deals with the processes which are better known because of their wider use, namely hardening and tempering. The plain-carbon steel contains the enough manganese, and residual from deoxidation processes that to give lower critical cooling rates than the equivalent pure iron-carbon alloys. The medium used are depends upon the composition of the steel, the size of the component and the ultimate properties that is required in it. During the subsequent heat-treatment, it must never be heated more than 30 C above the lower critical temperature. The phenomenon refers to the mass effect of heat-treatment, and plain-carbon steel, and it is said to have a 'shallow depth of hardening', or, alternatively, 'a poor hardenability'. The hardened steel is generally tempered in some form of furnace in which the hot air is circulated over the charge.
