Grain refinement
There are many applications that can benefit from grain refinement. Grain refinement is a result of specific manufacturing techniques which allow for a finer grain. In almost every case, a finer grain material will outperform a coarser grain item of the same material. The basis of finer grains being stronger is that while there are more dislocations in the material, it is more difficult to make all these dislocations line up. Finer grains also typically have less precipitates in the boundaries. Precipitates are oxides, carbon, and interstitial elements that are not in solution of the grain. Precipitates are normally not as strong as the material itself - tending to make a precipitated material more brittle.