In certain applications, it is important to measure the mechanical properties of steel
with high accuracy. These measurements are usually performed by destructive
processes, in which the test sample is destroyed. Destructive techniques
cannot detect the minuscule changes made in the mechanical properties of
steel during heat treatment processes. Ultrasonic nondestructive testing
is an alternative method that can be used for measuring the mechanical
properties of steel more precisely. In this paper, the ultrasonic method is used for
measuring the elastic properties of AISI 52100 steel samples which are heat
treated at different levels. Each sample has its specific microstructure and
hardness due to the heat treatment process it has gone through. The elastic
properties of each sample are obtained by measuring the velocities of longitudinal
and shear waves in each sample. Comparison of the results obtained from
ultrasonic measurements with those available in reference tables shows that
the ultrasonic technique can measure the elastic properties of AISI 52100
samples with high accuracy. The ultrasonic technique also shows that it
can identify the tempered martensite embrittlement zone in AISI 52100
samples.