A few secrets of the metallurgist simply told

A clear primer for non-specialists outlines fundamental metallurgical principles, beginning with allotropic changes in iron and steel illustrated by everyday analogies. It presents laboratory demonstrations and an experiment on pearlitic steel, explains the effects of major alloying elements (carbon, manganese, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, chromium, tungsten, molybdenum, vanadium, cobalt and others), and surveys varieties of tool and high-speed steels. Practical heat-treatment procedures — hardening, annealing and tempering — are described for different applications, and an appendix supplies analyses, uses and heat-treatment recommendations for numerous steel grades.