Artifacts of stress relaxation technique to fit recovery activation parameters for low carbon steels

The paper compares model predictions of recovery kinetics of low carbon steels with activation parameters determined by various experimental techniques. It is concluded that the stress relaxation method overestimates the recovery rate because the creep of stressed specimens is ignored. To avoid such errors, it is recommended to use an alternative method of double loading. The more realistic (lesser) rate of recovery with the related activation parameters complies with independent data of mechanical tests.