35 mm long specimens were cut from the rod. A specimen was attached along 10 mm of its length to
a 6 mm dia. strainless steel push rod and arranged for heat treatment as depicted in Fig. 1. It was then
austenitized for 7 min at 800 6 3°C and quenched in silicone oil (Dow Corning 200 with 0.05 Pa-s
viscosity) at room temperature (23°227°C). One set of specimens was quenched without electric field;
a second set was quenched with an external dc electric field E 5 1 kV/cm (current I 5 0.2 mA) applied
during the quench in the manner shown in Fig