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The property that determines the depth and distribution of hardness when steel is heated to a given temperature and then quenched (more precisely it may be defined as an inverse measure of the severity of cooling conditions necessary to produce on continuous cooling a martensitic structure in a previously austenitized steel i.e. to avoid transformations in the pearlitic and bainitic ranges). The lower the cooling rate to avoid these transformations, the greater the hardenability. The critical cooling rate is largely a function of the composition of the steel. In general the higher the carbon content, the greater the hardenability, whilst alloying elements such as nickel, chromium, manganese and molybdenum increase the depth of hardening for a given ruling section.
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