The decomposition of austenite to ferrite or cementite begins at the equilibrium phase boundary of austenite/ (ferrite austenite) or austenite/(cementite austenite) in binary Fe–C phase diagram. The temperature values on the phase boundaries of austenite/(ferrite austenite) and austenite/(cementite austenite) at a certain carbon content are called Ae3 and Acm temperatures of the steel, respecti...

The microstructural evolution of Fe–0.2C–5Mn steel during intercritical annealing with holding time for up to 144 hours was examined by TEM and STEM. It was demonstrated by TEM that the martensite lath structure gradually transformed into a lamellar ferrite and austenite duplex structure. The partitioning of manganese from ferrite to austenite was found by STEM. Typical Kurdjumov-Sachs orientat...

This study investigated the microstructures of pearlite and martensite transformed from ultrafine-grained austenite in 0.45C steel and Vadded 0.45C steel. The mean prior austenite grain sizes were refined to be 4.5 μm in the 0.45C specimen and 2.4 μm in the V-added 0.45C specimen through cyclic heat treatment of austenitizing and water quenching, i.e., repetition of martensite § austenite trans...

The effect of different austenite grain size and different cooling rates on the austenite to ferrite transformation temperature and different ferrite morphologies in one Nb-microalloyed (HSLA) steel has been investigated. Three different austenite grain sizes were selected and cooled at two different cooling rates for obtaining austenite to ferrite transformation temperature. Moreover, samples ...

The pinning effect is useful for restraining austenite grain growth in low alloy steel and improving heat affected zone toughness in welded joints. We propose a new calculation model for predicting austenite grain growth behavior. The model is mainly comprised of two theories: the solute-drag effect and the pinning effect of TiN precipitates. The calculation of the solute-drag effect is based o...

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in steels of multi-phase structures, composed of a ferritic matrix, in which islets occur, that contain bainite-B, martensite-M and the untransformed austenite-A 1-9 . The multi-phase structure of steel with untransformed austenite promotes the increase of plasticity induced by the phase transformation – the TRIP effect 3-4, 6-8 . In steels con...

The stability of the retained austenite has been studied in situ in low-alloyed transformation-induced-plasticity (TRIP) steels using high-energy X-ray diffraction during tensile tests at variable temperatures down to 153 K. A detailed powder diffraction analysis has been performed to probe the austenite-to-martensite transformation by characterizing the evolution of the phase fraction, load pa...

Recent studies on TRIP-assisted multiphase steels have emphasised the drastic importance of the bainitic transformation in the optimisation of properties. Bainitic ageing is necessary for the stabilisation of austenite with respect to the martensitic transformation. This metastable retained austenite can still transform to martensite when plastically deformed (TRIP effect). The present work dea...

The redistribution of carbon after tempering of a novel nanocrystalline bainitic steel consisting of a mixture of supersaturated ferrite and retained austenite has been analyzed by atom probe tomography. No direct evidence supporting the additional carbon enrichment of austenite beyond that initially achieved during the bainite heat treatment was obtained during subsequent tempering of this hig...

High resolution synchrotron X–ray diffraction has been used to conduct in situ studies of the temporal evolution of phases during the isothermal growth of bainite. Two populations of austenitic material were identified: one corresponding to the initial austenite, the other to the carbon–enriched austenite associated with the bainitic ferrite. The observed lattice parameters and the asymmetry of...