**Notes**

The work "Effects of molybdenum on hardening properties of stainless steels by low-temperature vacuum carburizing and pre-treatment" was orally presented at the session "vacuum processes and technology" in the 31st ASM Heat Treating Society Conference (Heat Treat 2021). The expanded abstract was published (DOI: 10.31399/ asm.cp.ht2021exabp0107, ASM permitted for this reuse).
