Papers - Notes on Microstructure and Hardness of Alloys Consisting Essentially of Iron, Chromium and Silicon (T. P. 853, with discussion)

During the period from 1910 to 1920, there was a lively interest in the subject of grain growth and many papers were published, followed by interesting discussions. Questions dealing with the fundamentals of grain growth—why and how it occurs—were treated in papers by Howe,' .Jeffries,² Sauveur,² Chappell,4 Beilby,5 Mathewson and Phillips,6 Mc Adam,7 Carpenter and Elam,8 Stead and Carpenter,9 Ruder,l0 as well as others. Since that decade, much indeed has been done regarding the practical control of grain size, and it is now possible to order material having a size sperified in the American Society for Testing Materials classification. Also, one hears the term "spliced boundaries" used in connection with certain tungsten lamp filamentsl1 wherein it is important to prevent "sagging" between consecutive turns of the helix.12 This practical use of a certain knowledge as to the things that influence or even control grain growth should not be taken as an indication that the subject has been thoroughly explored and that nothing more can be learned from fundamental studies. It is with this thought in mind that a report of some observations and experiments on abnormal grain growth is believed justified. Abnormal grain growth is met with in heat-treating high-carbon steels in the austenitic range,'? in the hardening treatments of high-speed steels,14'15 and in the low-temperature annealing of strained low-carbon steels as in sheet and wire material. Entirely aside from these instances of exaggerated grain growth, which some might consider as freakish, it is thought that abnormal growth is simply a case where the growth forces and the forces tending to prevent growth are almost, but not quite, evenly balanced. Information relative to grain-growth characteristics in general may be obtained from a study of abnormal growth conditions, which may be looked upon as vantage points. Reflection will show at once that if growth forces are great in comparison to inertia or resistance to growth, many crystals start to grow and, for that reason, none becomes very large, whereas if inertia is