This historic metallurgical process involves cooling steel at a controlled rate or using an interrupted quench to form what was once called sorbite. Metallurgists later realized sorbite was simply a very fine pearlite or highly tempered martensite, rather than a distinct phase. The treatment yields a tough, ductile steel suitable for wire ropes and springs.
The specs on this old bridge cable call for sorbitization to get the required tensile strength without making the wire brittle.
You will rarely see this term on new drawings, but it frequently shows up in historic specifications for railway axles and suspension bridge wires.
Related terms
Pearlite
A layered mix of ferrite and cementite that forms when austenite cools slowly through the eutectoid range.
Martensite
The hard, needle-like phase that forms when austenite is quenched fast enough to trap its carbon.
Microstructure
The internal arrangement of phases and grains in a metal visible only under magnification.
Sorbitize
To heat treat steel to produce a tough, finely structured phase historically known as sorbite.