The possibility of producing bainite at low temperatures by suppressing transformation using substitutional solutes has been investigated, as an alternative to using large carbon concentrations to achieve the same purpose. It is found that although transformation temperatures can indeed be suppressed in this way, the difference between the bainite and martensite start temperatures diminishes. T...

The influence of bainite morphology on the impact toughness behaviour of a continuously cooled cementite free low carbon C-Mn-B type of steel has been examined. Different bainite morphologies were obtained by cooling from the austenite regime to ambient temperature with different cooling rates. The resulting microstructures have been quantitatively analysed using light optical microscopy (LOM),...

During the course of our research on the quantitative design of steels [1,2], an exciting discovery was made, in which carbide–free bainite was obtained by transformation at incredibly low temperatures, as low as 125 ◦C [3]. To put this into context, the random jump distance of an iron atom at that temperature is only 10 m over a period of three weeks. The consequence of the low transformation–...

The effect of austenite grain size on the evolution of the bainite transformation in steels is not yet certain in spite of many investigations.1–7 Barford and Owen1 reported that the reaction rate was accelerated by decreasing the grain size, because of an increase in the number density of grain boundary nucleation sites. Umemoto et al.2 reported similar results and proposed an equation that de...

Shielded metal arc welding and submerged arc welding were used to prepare experimental weld metals with variations in nickel, manganese and carbon contents. The weld metals contained Ni between 6.6 and 10.5 wt. %, Mn between 0.5 and 2.0 wt. % while carbon was varied between 0.03 and 0.11 wt. %. Mechanical properties were found to be sensitive to alloying content. However once the optimum level ...

An experiment is presented which succeeds for the first time in stimulating the formation of coarse plates of bainite by the coalescence of identically oriented individual platelets. Transformation under the influence of a tensile stress dramatically promotes the formation of the coalesced bainite by increasing the probability of growing parallel platelets in close proximity. Whereas the coarse...

The effects of increasing nickel from 3 to 7 and 9 wt. % were investigated in high strength steel weld metals with 2 wt. % manganese. It was found that nickel additions were positive for strength but negative for impact toughness. Significant segregation of nickel and manganese to interdendritic regions was observed with the two higher nickel contents. In these weld metals a mainly martensitic ...

The effects of increasing the nickel content from 3 to 7 or 9 wt-% were investigated in high strength steel weld metals with 2 wt-% manganese. Nickel additions were beneficial to strength but detrimental to impact toughness. Significant segregation of nickel and manganese to interdendritic regions was observed at the two higher nickel contents. In these weld metals a mainly martensitic microstr...

By using an iron alloy that transforms slowly to bainite at a low temperature, it has been possible to study the development of the upper bainite under the influence of exceptionally large stresses, which are nevertheless below the yield strength of the parent austenite. It is found that a uniaxial stress whose magnitude is below the elastic limit, strongly favours the growth of compliant varia...

There are two well-known phenomena associated with the bainite reaction, both of which have been exploited here to enhance the mechanical behaviour of steel. Firstly, the bainite plate size decreases as the transformation temperature is reduced. Secondly, it is bad to have large regions of untransformed austenite in the microstructure; this is because they can transform, under the influence of ...