Strengthening hardening

Natural rubber is produced from a milky-white colloidal latex found in the rubber tree. It is a polymeric terpene with isoprene being the recurring polymeric unit. Polyisoprene rubber can also be produced synthetically by the addition polymerization of isoprene by 1,4-addition. Other synthetic rubbers include SBR (styrene-butadiene rubber), polybutadiene, and neoprene. Rubber is strengthened, hardened, and made more elastic by a process called vulcanization in which sulfur bridges form links within the polymeric chains. These links become strained when the rubber is stretched and when released the rubber assumes its original conformation. 

A hardness indentation causes both elastic and plastic deformations which activate certain strengthening mechanisms in metals. Dislocations created by the deformation result in strain hardening of metals. Thus the indentation hardness test, which is a measure of resistance to deformation, is affected by the rate of strain hardening. 

For the same lattice strains, the larger the valency difference between solute and solvent, the greater the hardening. The strengthening influence of alloying elements persists to temperatures at least as high as 815°C. Valency effects may be explained by modulus differences between the various alloys... 

Steels iu the AISI 400 series contain a minimum of 11.5% chromium and usually not more than 2.5% of any other aHoyiag element these steels are either hardenable (martensitic) or nonhardenable, depending principally on chromium content. Whereas these steels resist oxidation up to temperatures as high as 1150°C, they are not particularly strong above 700°C. Steels iu the AISI 300 series contain a minimum of 16% chromium and 6% nickel the relative amounts of these elements are balanced to give an austenitic stmcture. These steels caimot be strengthened by heat treatment, but can be strain-hardened by cold work. 

The Zn—A1 system permits manipulation of the mechanical properties by suitable heat treatment. The aluminum-rich alpha phase is especially suitable for solution hardening since it can be supersaturated by as much as 30 wt % zinc. Furthermore, both alpha and beta phases can be strengthened by precipitation because of decreasing solute solubiUty with decreasing temperature. 

A variety of materials has been proposed to modify the properties of asphaltic binders to enhance the properties of the mix (112), including fillers and fibers to reinforce the asphalt—aggregate mixture (114), sulfur to strengthen or harden the binder (115,116), polymers (98,117—121), mbber (122), epoxy—resin composites (123), antistripping agents (124), metal complexes (125,126), and lime (127,128). AH of these additives serve to improve the properties of the binder and, ultimately, the properties of the asphalt—aggregate mix. 

Mechanical Properties. An advantage of the two corrosion-resistant alloys is that they may be strengthened considerably by cold working. MP35N alloy is iatended for use ia the work-hardened or work-hardened and aged condition, and the manufacturers have suppHed considerable data concerning the mechanical properties of the alloy at different levels of cold work. Some of these data are given ia Table 8. 

Most wrought alloys are provided in conditions that have been strengthened by various amounts of cold work or heat treatment. Cold worked tempers are the result of cold rolling or drawing by prescribed amounts of plastic deformation from the annealed condition. Alloys that respond to strengthening by heat treatment are referred to as precipitation or age hardenable. Cold worked conditions can also be thermally treated at relatively low temperatures to affect a slight decrease in strength (stress rehef annealed) to benefit other properties, such as corrosion resistance and formabiUty. 

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