What is Fine Grain Practice?
Fine Grain practice is an optional production method/chemistry for A105. The purpose of Fine Grain practice is to refine the grain structure, enhance the material’s resistance to brittle fracture, and improve the impact toughness at low temperatures.
This practice normally involves a combination of “Normalization” heat treatment and the addition of one or more austenitic grain refining elements in amounts that have been established by the steel producer as being sufficient. Austenitic grain refining elements include but are not limited to, aluminum, niobium (columbium), titanium, and vanadium.
Some end users have made this a requirement.