Isothermal Martensitic Transformation as an Internal-Stress-Increasing Process

Based on the results that the magnitude of the stabilization of retained austenite increases with increasing the amount of martensite transformed, it has been assumed that the martensitic transformation is accompanied with an increase in internal resisting stress which subsequently results in the stabilization of retained austenite. By simplifying this internal resisting stress to be a type of hydrostatic compressive stress acting on retained austenite due to surrounding martensite plates, a thermodynamical analysis for an isothermal martensitic transformation under applied hydrostatic pressure has been performed. The calculated results, to some extent, show a good agreement with the experimental data.