Kinetics and Microstructural Control

· The effect of time and temperature on the alloy tensile strength is shown.
· The starting state for each curve is the quenched material super-saturated with substitutional copper.

From: Higgins, "Engineering Metallurgy," Arnold (1989)

· The material is then reheated to the temperatures shown and its tensile strength is measured for various isothermal heating periods.
· Sample A (20 C) never reaches its maximum UTS, C (165 C) reaches the best overall UTS, and D (200 C) goes to thermodynamic equilibrium.