Determining Heat Treat Condition of 17-7 sheet

[mighoser]

Besides hardness is there a method to determine heat treat condition (in parts) besides hardness testing. From what I've read, The TH and RH grades are easy to segregate from microstructure (TH = cat's and dog's). How about between different Aging temperatures (TH 950, 1000, 1050, 1075, 1100)? What would the result of processing Condition C material to the TH1050 process (ie start with condition C instead of A)?

 

[EdStainless]

Well, other than a lot of TEM work, the only way that I know is to check the certs.
If you are sure of the materials general treatment (T, R, or C) then you should be able use tensile to estimate aging temp.
One trick is to re-age samples. If you don't change the properties then you must have used a temp below the original.

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