Patent ID: 7464593

Claim:
A method for treating metals and verifying the treatment, comprising, in combination: providing an object to be tested, with the object having a structural resonant frequency and physical characteristics; providing a vibration analyzer having an information generation subassembly comprising a signal sending component and a signal receiving component whereby the vibration analyzer may be applied to the object to be tested; providing a first vibrational test utilizing the vibration analyzer on the object whereby a first data set is generated for the object being tested; providing a cooling chamber having an enclosed space therein for receiving an object that may be cooled and then allowed to return to ambient temperature with the rate of change of temperature being determined by the physical characteristics of the object; providing a second vibrational test of the object that had been cooled and then allowed to return to ambient temperature, using the vibration analyzer, the second vibrational test generating a second data set with the second data set being stored in the data collection subsystem whereby the first data set may be compared to the second data set; and providing at least one cooling cycle, the cooling cycle being the process of cooling an object to a prescribed temperature for a specified length of time and then allowing the temperature of the object to return to ambient temperature at a rate determined by the physical characteristics of the object.