In metallurgy, the capacity of steel or other metal to be hardened through heat treatment and quenching.
From 'harden' (Middle English from Old English 'heard' + '-en' verb suffix) combined with '-ability' (from Latin 'habilis' meaning 'capable'), a technical term.
Hardenability is why different steels are suited for different purposes—a sword needs high hardenability to hold an edge, while structural steel needs less hardenability to remain flexible and avoid brittle fractures.
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