## 3 Results
### Mechanical Properties  
The mechanical properties of no-SB and SB 0\({}^{\circ}\)XZ-, 0\({}^{\circ}\)XY-, 45\({}^{\circ}\)-, 90\({}^{\circ}\)Z-samples under all heat-treating conditions are shown in Figure 11. Focusing on the no-SB section of the graph, the samples heat-treated at 704 \({}^{\circ}\)C exhibit similar UTS, YS and elongation average values to the samples heat-treated at 740 \({}^{\circ}\)C (Table 4). On the other hand, the UTS and YS decrease up to 918 \(\pm\) 7 MPa and 817 \(\pm\) 6 MPa, respectively, after the treatment at 1050 \({}^{\circ}\)C/60\({}^{\prime}\). The mechanical properties of the SB 0\({}^{\circ}\)XZ-, 0\({}^{\circ}\)XY-, 45\({}^{\circ}\)-, 90\({}^{\circ}\)Z-samples show the same trends, except for the elongation values at 1050 \({}^{\circ}\)C/60\({}^{\prime}\). In this case, the average value decreases from 12.75 \(\pm\) 1.01% in the no-SB case to 10.65 \(\pm\) 0.21% in SB condition. The effects induced by the sandblasting process are also analyzed on the cross-section of the 90\({}^{\circ}\)Z-sample through Vickers microhardness profiles (Figure 3b). Figure 12 correlates the HV\({}_{0.5}\) microhardness profiles of no-SB and SB samples for each heat-treatment temperature within the same graph. In addition, the orange, red and blue lines indicate the HV\({}_{0.5}\) average values of the 3 rd-13 th indentations, namely the HV\({}_{0.5}\) values obtained by excluding the possible effects induced by the sandblasting process. These values agree \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Heat Treatments**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**No-SB**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**SB**} \\ \cline{2-6}  & **UTS [MPa]** & **YS [MPa]** & **\(\varepsilon\) [\%]** & **UTS [MPa]** & **YS [MPa]** & **\(\varepsilon\) [\%]** \\ \hline
704 \({}^{\circ}\)C/120\({}^{\prime}\) & \(1034\pm 18\) & \(948\pm 28\) & 10.58 \(\pm\) 0.69 & 1035 \(\pm\) 5 & 964 \(\pm\) 9 & 11.85 \(\pm\) 0.5 \\
740 \({}^{\circ}\)C/120\({}^{\prime}\) & \(1025\pm 10\) & \(960\pm 10\) & 11.05 \(\pm\) 0.49 & 1022 \(\pm\) 7 & 957 \(\pm\) 7 & 11.53 \(\pm\) 0.35 \\
1050 \({}^{\circ}\)C/60\({}^{\prime}\) & \(918\pm 7\) & \(818\pm 7\) & 12.75 \(\pm\) 1.01 & 919 \(\pm\) 3 & 820 \(\pm\) 11 & 10.65 \(\pm\) 0.21 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 4: Average values of the mechanical properties of no-SB and SB samples heat-treated at 704 \({}^{\circ}\)C/120\({}^{\prime}\), 740 \({}^{\circ}\)C/130\({}^{\prime}\) and 1050 \({}^{\circ}\)C/60\({}^{\prime}\). with those reported in Table 5, which illustrates the HV\({}_{0.5}\) values of the heat-treated 0\({}^{\circ}\)XZ-, 0\({}^{\circ}\)XZ-, 0\({}^{\circ}\)XZ-, 45\({}^{\circ}\)-, 90\({}^{\circ}\)Z-bars and samples. The hardness values measured on bars heat-treated at 704 \({}^{\circ}\)C/120\({}^{\prime}\) and 740 \({}^{\circ}\)C/130\({}^{\prime}\) agree with those obtained on the heat-treated tensile samples (Figure 12). As a matter of fact, the 704 \({}^{\circ}\)C/120\({}^{\prime}\) and 740 \({}^{\circ}\)C/130\({}^{\prime}\) bars show the same microstructure of the tensile  
Figure 12: Vickers microhardness profile measured on the cross-section of 90\({}^{\circ}\)Z-samples heat-treated at: (**a**) 704 \({}^{\circ}\)C/120\({}^{\prime}\), (**b**) 740 \({}^{\circ}\)C/130\({}^{\prime}\) and (**c**) 1050 \({}^{\circ}\)C/60\({}^{\prime}\). The orange, red and blue lines represent the HV\({}_{0.5}\) average values of the 3 rd–13 th indentations of the Vickers profiles, while the dotted lines show the associated error ranges. samples. Instead, considering the effects induced by the SHT at 1050 \({}^{\circ}\)C, the average HV\({}_{0.5}\) values of the bars are slightly higher than those obtained on the tensile sample due to the different microstructures (Figures 5 and 6). Figure 13 shows the HV\({}_{0.1}\) values of the different microstructures that form the 1050 \({}^{\circ}\)C/60\({}^{\prime}\) heat-treated bars (Figure 13a-d) and tensile samples (Figure 13e,f).