Patent ID: 8480824

Claim:
A method for micro-treating steel, said method comprising: providing steel having a first micro-structure and a first thickness, said steel being capable of transforming to steel having a second micro-structure and a second thickness upon being rapidly heated to a selected temperature and then being immediately quenched; feeding continuously the steel along a path of motion to a first tensioning unit at a feed rate; rapidly heating, within 5 seconds, the steel at a heating unit to a selected temperature above the austenite conversion temperature, said selected temperature being at least 1832 ° F.; wherein the heating is only performed until the selected temperature is reached and then the steel is substantially immediately quenched by quenching unit immediately adjacent the heating unit; drawing the steel by a second tensioning unit at a draw rate of no more than 50 % higher than the feed rate to form a section of the steel having a second micro-structure and a second thickness.