The variation of the mechanical properties and the formation of retained austenite with heat treatment conditions in austempered Si bearing carbon steels has been investigated. In the case of a steel containing 0.35C-1.48Si-0.95Mn, it has been found that a feather shape bainite structure of lath are obtained under a isothermal treated condition at just below the Ms temperature, and the martensite, bainitic ferrite and retained austenite of second phase particles on the ferrite matrix for a isothermal treated steels after intercritical annealing are precipitated in a linked shape. The retained austenite with $2{\mu}m$ size induced as TRIP is found to increase with increasing the formation rate of retained austenite for the intercritical annealing and high Si containing steels. The tensile strength is increased as austempering temperature increases in all isothermal treatment temperature, whereas the elongation is shown to roughly decrease as the tensile strength increases. The values of tensile strength-elongation balance have showed a marked dependence upon the elongation rather than the tensile stregth, and their values are increased for high Si containing steels and intercritical annealing condition. The most optimum result has been shown to be the tensile stregth-elongation balance of $2882.4kgf/mm^2.%$ and the elongation of 33.3% for a "B" steel in the heat treating temperature range of $780{\sim}370^{\circ}C$.

This study has been conducted to investigate the effects of initial structure on the microstructure and tensile properties of high strength trip steel sheet. The initial structure before austempering remarkably influenced the second phase. The specimen with normalized initial structure showed mainly bainitic ferrite and retained austenite, while the as rolled specimen and spherodized specimen showed martensite plus retained austenite and martensite plus bainitic ferrite with small retained austenite, respectively. Two type of retained austenite, film type and granual type were observed in all specimens. The as rolled specimen appeared the highest contents of retained austenite owing to the compressive stress by cold rolling. The contents of retained austenite increased with increasing intercritical annealing temperature and austempering time. Tensile strength showed the highest in the as rolled specimen, while the highest elongation were obtained in the normalized specimen. The maximum T.S.${\times}$El. Value showed in normalized initial structure and increased with increasing intercritical annealing and austempering time. The highest Value of T.S.${\times}$El. obtained at austempering temperature of $400^{\circ}C$ and retained austenite of 12%.

Pure copper is widely used for base material for electrical and electronic parts because of its good electrical conductivity. However, it has such a low strength that various alloying elements are added to copper to increase its strength. Nevertheless, alloying elements which exist as solid solution elements in copper matrix severely reduce the electrical conductivity. The reduction of electrical conductivity can be minimized and the strengthening can be maximized by TMT(Thermo-Mechanical Treatment) in copper alloys. In this research, the effects of TMT on mechanical and electrical properties of Cu-Ni-Al-Si-P, Cu-Ni-Al-Si-P-Zr and Cu-Ni-Si-P-Ti alloys aged at various temperatures were investigated. The Cu alloy with Ti showed the hardness of Hv 225, electrical conductivity of 59.8%IACS, tensile strength of 572MPa and elongation of 6.4%.

After changing the heat treating atmosphere of nitrogen gas, argon gas and vacuum, the nitrogen contents, microstructural changes, hardness and corrosion resistance of 0.25wt.%N alloyed super duplex stainless steel have been investigated in the temperature range from $1050^{\circ}C$ to $1350^{\circ}C$. The nitrogen content showed to be increased up to 0.36wt.% after heat treating the specimen in nitrogen gas at $1200^{\circ}C$, while the decrement of nitrogen content in vacuum atmosphere was shown down to 0.03wt.% at $1350^{\circ}C$. After heat treating in the mixed gas atmosphere of argon and nitrogen at $1250^{\circ}C$, the surface ${\gamma}$ phase existed as ${\alpha}+{\gamma}$ phase increased with increasing nitrogen gas content. The ${\gamma}$ single phase appeared at the surface above $80%N_2$ gas, while the surface ${\alpha}$ single phase was shown below $20%N_2$ gas. When heat treating the specimen in nitrogen gas at $1050^{\circ}C$, the hardness of austenite phases increased above Hv 40 at the surface layer compared to the hardness of the core parts, while decrement of denitriding effect caused to the hardness nearly unchanged between surface and the core parts after heat treating in vacuum atmosphere. The surface ${\gamma}$ single phase specimen showed superior corrosion resistance than the surface ${\alpha}$ single phase specimen. The surface ${\alpha}$ phase existed in the ${\alpha}+{\gamma}$ microstructure showed higher corrosion resistance after heat treating in the nitrogen gas atmosphere than the ${\alpha}$ phase heat treated in the argon gas and vacuum atmosphere.

Although functionally gradient materials(FGM) has been developed so as to decrese the thermal stress induced by the high temperature difference between metal and ceramic, it is necessary to analyze the residual thermal stress for the fabrication of FGM. In order to reduce the residual thermal stress, compositional profile of SUS/PSZ(FGM) was suggested using finite element method(FEM). The stress analysis was made on the shape of cylinder with axial symmetry using two dimensional triangular element. For the case of various cylinder with different compositional gradient, calculated stress components were in reasonably good agreement with the expected ones. And the qualitative profile was suggested.

Flake graphite cast irons with the high damping capacity have been used for the control of vibration and noise occuring in the members of various mechanical structures under vibrating conditions. However, the damping capacity which is morphological characteristics of graphite is one of the important factors in reducing the vibration and noise, but hardly any work has deal with this problem. Therefore, the authors have examined the damping capacity of various cast irons with alloying elements and studied the influences of the matrix, mechanical properties and morphological characteristics of graphite. The main results obtained are as follows: Effects of Ni on the damping capacities and mechanical properties are investigated in 3.9%C-0.3% Cu gray cast iron. At 0.2% Ni content, specific damping capacity showed the maximum value, and decreased with further increase in Ni content, Graphite continuity also showed same behavior. This indicates that the specific damping capacity has a close relation with graphite continuity. On the other hand, the damping capacity in pearlite matrix showed superior to that in ferrite. In contrast, with increasing the Ni content, both tensile strength and hardness increased due to the decrease of graphite length and eutectic cell size.

The morphology of deformation induced dislocations in polycrystalline $Ni_3$(Al, Cr) containing $M_{23}C_6$ precipitates has been investigated in terms of transmission electron microscopy(TEM). Fine Polyhedral precipitates of $M_{23}C_6$ appeared in the matrix by aging at temperatures around 973 K after solution annealing at 1423 K. TEM examination revealed that the $M_{23}C_6$ phase and the matrix lattices have a cube-cube orientation relationship and keep partial atomic matching at the {111} interface. After deformation at temperature below 973 K, typical Orowan loops were observed surrounding the $M_{23}C_6$ particles. At higher deformation temperatures, the Orowan loops disappeared and the morphology of dislocations at the particle-matrix interfaces suggested the existence of attractive interaction between dislocations and particles. The change of the interaction modes between dislocation and particles with increasing deformation temperature can be considered as a result of strain relaxation at the interface bet ween matrix and particles.

A study was performed to examine the aging behaviors of Al-2.1Li-2.9Cu alloy by differential scanning calorimetry and transmission electron microscopy. DSC measurements were conducted over the temperature range of $25{\sim}550^{\circ}C$ at a heating rate of $5^{\circ}C$/min. for the specimens aged at 130, 160, $190^{\circ}C$ and $220^{\circ}C$ for various times after solution treatment at $540^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes. The peaks due to the formation of G.P.zone were not detected in the specimens aged at 130 and $160^{\circ}C$, but those at 190 and $220^{\circ}C$ appeared in DSC curves. The heat absorption due to the dissolution of ${\delta}^{\prime}$ phase was increased with increasing aging time at $130^{\circ}C$ aging. In contrast, those values for the specimens aged at 160 and $190^{\circ}C$ were initially increased and inversely decreased at the transition time of 72 and 1 hour, respectively. The heat evolution due to the formation of $T_1$ phase was nearly unchanged at $130^{\circ}C$ aging, but at $160^{\circ}C$ and $190^{\circ}C$ aging, drastically decreased after the transition time. It can be considered that the increase of $T_1$ phase results in the decrease of ${\delta}^{\prime}$ phase when aging time is longer than the transition time. The hardness of the specimen aged at $190^{\circ}C$ is initially higher compared with that at $160^{\circ}C$, however, the peak hardness shows the lower value than that at $160^{\circ}C$.

This work was to investigate suitable tool steels for hardening using laser beam, and was studied on carbon tool steels and alloyed tool steels such as STC3 steel, STS3 steel, STD11 steel and SKH51 steel. The surface hardness of HV700-1000 and the hardening depth of 2-2.5mm were obtained on STC3 steel and STS3 steel, and HV800-1000 was obtained on SKH51 steel, but STD11 steel was not enough. Except STD11 steel, all steels used in this study can be hardened by laser quenching or laser rapid melting.