Book excerpt: What is heat treatment? This book describes heat treating technology in clear, concise, and nontheoretical language. It is an excellent introduction and guide for design and manufacturing engineers, technicians, students, and others who need to understand why heat treatment is specified and how different processes are used to obtain desired properties. The new Second Edition has been extensively updated and revised by Jon. L. Dossett, who has more than forty years of experience in theat treating operations and management. The update adds important information about new processes and process control techniques that have been developed or refined in recent years. Helpfull appendices have been added on decarburization of steels, boost/diffues cycles for carburizing, and process verification.