Alloying elements can be used to control the bulk
microstructure of a steel and hence its hardness. For example
increasing the carbon content can have several influences on the
material hardness:
- increases the volume fraction of pearlite in
a ferrite and pearlite steel thereby increasing the hardness
since pearlite is a harder phase than ferrite.
- increases the hardenability of the steel thus
promoting the formation of harder transformation products
such as bainite and/or martensite.
The influence of alloying elements can be reviewed in the
section on the Jominy Hardenability
Test.
