A loss in ductility accompanied by an increase in hardness and strength that occurs when low-carbon steel (especially rimmed or capped steel) is aged following plastic deformation. The degree of embrittlement is a function of aging time and temperature, o ...

The part of the total carbon in steel or cast iron that is present in elemental form as graphite or temper carbon. Contrast with combined carbon.

The reversible potential for an electrode process when all products and reactions are at unit activity on a scale in which the potential for the standard hydrogen half-cell is zero.

The shear stress on a transverse cross section resulting from u twisting action.

When an electrode reaches dynamic equilibrium in a solution, the rate of anodic dissolution balances the rate of cathodic plating. The rate at which either positive or negative charges are entering or leaving the surface at this point is known as the exch ...

An increase in hardness and strength caused by plastic deformation at temperatures below the recrystallization range.

See Pourbaix (potential-pH) diagram.

A single, solid, homogeneous crystalline phase containing two or more chemical species.

Being or composed of matter other than hydrocarbons and their derivatives, or matter that is not of plant or animal origin. Contrast with organic.

One of the relatively scarce and valuable metals: gold, silver, and the platinum-group metals. Also called noble metal(s).

See embrittlement.

Brittle fracture of a metal in which the fracture is between the grains, or crystals, that form the metal. Also called intercrystalline fracture. Contrast with transgranular fracture.

A plot of the redox potential of a corroding system versus the pH of the system, compiled using thermodynamic data and the Nernst equation. The diagram shows regions within which the metal itself or some of its compounds are stable.

The component of either a liquid or solid solution that is present to a lesser or minor extent: the component that is dissolved in thesolution.

The reaction of a metal or alloy with a sulfur-containing species to produce a sulfur compound that forms on or beneath the surface on the metal or alloy.

Corrosion testing in a boiling solution of nitric acid. This test is mainly used to detect the susceptibilty to intergranular corrosion of stainless steel.

Removing surface oxides from metals by chemical or electrochemical reaction. Pickling is the removal of any high temperature scale and any adjacent low chromium layer of metal from the surface of stainless steel by chemical means. Where the steel has b ...

The permanent (inelastic) distortion of metals under applied stresses that strain the material beyond its elastic limit.

See principal stress (normal).

Factor for a loading condition that displaced the crack faces in a direction normal to the crack plane (also known as the opening mode of deformation).