Soviet Progress in Thermomechanical Treatment of Metals

Soviet efforts in thermomechanical treatments (TMT) have continued unabated during the last decade. The predominant strengthening mechanisms have been firmly established and procedures for simplifying the processing requirements have been developed. Substructural stabilization and hereditary treatments have received particular attention. Pilot plant and some production processing by TMT have been reported, though the type of end items involved has not substantially changed from earlier years. The typical applications involve processing of small volumes, while the TMT of large complex components is still not technically feasible. There are a number of small, simple components that have been successfully processed and evaluated in service. Surface hardening, particularly by roller burnishing, is one technological area where a wide range of specific hardware has been TMT processed. The background developed in all phases of TMT should enable Soviet designers to incorporate TMT into less publicized applications, as in military or aviation hardware, where the increased costs inevitably associated with TMT can be better tolerated.