The microstructural changes of Fe-20Mn-12Cr-1Cu alloy have been studied during high temperature gas nitriding (HTGN) at the range of $1000^{\circ}C{\sim}1150^{\circ}C$ in an atmosphere of nitrogen gas. The mixed microstructure of austenite and ${\varepsilon}$-martensite of as-received alloy was changed to austenite single phase after HTGN treatment at the nitrogen-permeated surface layer, however the interior region that was not affected nitrogen permeation remained the structure of austenite and ${\varepsilon}$-martensite. With raising the HTGN treatment temperature, the concentration and permeation depth of nitrogen, which is known as the austenite stabilizing element, were increased. Accordingly, the depth of austenite single phase region was increased. The outmost surface of HTGN treated alloy at $1000^{\circ}C$ appeared Cr nitride. And this was in good agreement with the thermodynamically calculated phase diagram. The grain growth was delayed after HTGN treatment temperature ranges of $1000^{\circ}C{\sim}1100^{\circ}C$ due to the grain boundary precipitates. For the HTGN treatment temperature of $1150^{\circ}C$, the fine grain region was shown at the near surface due to the grain boundary precipitates, however, owing to the depletion of grain boundary precipitates, coarse grain was appeared at the depth far from the surface. This depletion may come from the strong affinity between nitrogen and substitutional element of Al and Ti leading the diffusion of these elements from interior to surface. Because of the nitrogen dissolution at the nitrogen-permeated surface layer by HTGN treatment, the surface hardness was increased above 150 Hv compared to the interior region that was consisted with the mixed microstructure of austenite and ${\varepsilon}$-martensite.

Grain growth behaviors of hot-rolled AZ31 (Mg-3%Al-1%Zn) and AZ31-0.3%CaO alloys at elevated temperatures have been investigated in order to clarify the effect of CaO addition on grain stability of Mg-Al-based wrought alloy. The grain size of CaO-free alloy increased steeply from 673 K with an increase in annealing temperature from 573 to 773 K, whereas the grains of CaO-containing alloy were relatively stable up to 723 K. The activation energies for grain growth ($E_g$) were 12.2 and 18.3 kJ/mole between 573 and 673 K and 119.2 and 126.9 kJ/mole between 673 and 773 K in the AZ31 and AZ31-0.3%CaO alloys, respectively. This result indicates that grains in the CaO-added alloy possess higher thermal stability than CaO-free alloy. SEM observations on the annealed alloy samples revealed that higher grain stability resulting from CaO addition would be associated with the suppression of grain growth by Ca-related precipitate particles distributed in the microstructure.

In this study, the effect of tempering treatment on the mechanical properties in modified 440A steel has been investigated. The amount of remaining carbide decreased with increasing the austenitizing treatment temperature, and all carbides were completely dissolved at $1250^{\circ}C$. The amount of remaining carbide decreased with increasing the time of austenitizing, but the carbide remained insoluble up to 120 minutes at $1050^{\circ}C$. With increasing the tempering temperature, tensile strength decreased, and elongation increased slowly, while hardness rapidly decreased, and impact value unchanged and then rapidly increased over $500^{\circ}C$. The strength and hardness slowly decreased, while the elongation and impact absorbed energy increased with increasing the tempering time. $Cr_{23}C_6$ type carbide was precipitated and sharp decrease of elongation and toughness by tempering did not appear.

In this study, effects of silicon addition on the spheroidizing annealing of hyper-eutectoid steel was investigated. Heat treatment at various temperatures in the ${\gamma}+{\theta}$ region was also conducted in order to systematically control the kinetics of undissolved cementite. It was found that small amount of Si addition could increase both $A_1$ and $A_{cm}$ transformation temperature by both the JMat Pro evaluation and dilatometric measurement. It was also revealed by the microstructural observation that the volume fraction of retained cementite during heat treatment increased with decreasing temperature as well as increasing Si content. Based on the results obtained, it could be suggested that spheroidization at relatively higher temperature above $950^{\circ}C$ could be achieved by small addition of Si.