Martensitic stainless steels, as is the case of quenched and tempered steels, can be tempered. For this reason the products can be provided in both the annealed state (a treatment that improves their machinability and deformability) and in the quenched and tempered state (which instead enhances their mechanical strength and corrosion resistance characteristics). In order to achieve high surface hardness values, it is finally possible to subject these steels also to induction hardening after chip removal machining. As with the other steels, the versions with the addition of sulfur lend themselves more easily to machining by chip removal.
