Strainageinginsteelwasfirstobservedduringthe19thcenturywhenthemaximumloadcarryingcapacityofatestpiecewasincreasedafterithadbeenretestedfollowingapreviousseriesoftestinginaplasticrange.Overthelastdecades,agreatdealofresearchhasbeenperformedtogaindeeperinsightsintothephenomenonofstrainageing.Thesynergisticdevelopmentoftheoreticalhypothesisandnewexperimentalevidenceshaspromotedtheunderstandingofthemechanismsunderlyingstrainageing.Thecontentofthispaperisorganizedintofourcomponents.First,wehavecomparedthemaintheoriesdevelopedinrecentyears.Second,wehavesummarizedthemetallurgicaleffectsonthestrainageingbehaviorobservedinexperiments.Moreover,wehavemadeanattempttocorrelatetheexperimentalresultsandtheabove-mentionedtheories.Third,wehaveproposedafeasiblesolutiontocontrolstrainageinginlowcarbonsteels.Finally,wehaveelaboratedthepotentialityoftheatomprobetechniqueinfacilitatingdirectcharacterizationofthedistributionofsoluteatoms.
