Effects of tantalum on austenitic transformation kinetics of RAFM steel

The RAFM（reduced activation ferritic/martensitic）steels containing different tantalum contents（0wt.%,0.027wt.%,0.073wt.%）were designed and cast.Differential scanning calorimetry and optical microscopy were employed to explore the influence of tantalum content on the austenitic transformation of RAFM steels.The austenitic transformation kinetics was described by aphase-transformation model.The model,involving site saturation nucleation,diffusion-controlled growth and impingement correction,was established based on the classical Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov model.The phase-transformation kinetics parameters,including D_0（pre-exponential factor for diffusion）and Q_d（activation energy for diffusion）,were calculated by fitting the experimental data and the kinetic model.The results indicated that the average grain size is decreased with the increase of tantalum.The values of A_（c1） and A_（c3） （onset and finish temperature of austenitic transformation,respectively）are increased by increasing the tantalum content.The increase of tantalum caused the decrease of D_0.However,Q_d is increased with the increase of tantalum.In addition,as a carbides forming element,tantalum would reduce the carbon diffusion coefficient and slow down the austenitic transformation rate.

Effect of Warm-Rolled Pearlite Microstructural Features on Austenitic Transformation

The austenite transformation characteristics for various warm-rolled pearlite during rapid heating were investigated. The results indicate that the start temperature （Ts） is sensitive to the microstructural feature of pearlite, whereas the dislocation plays an important role in the transformation rate; at the same time, the uniformity of austenite grains is more or less affected by the amount of spheroidized pearlite. A critical effect on the state of austenite grain is created through the influence of initial microstructures on the start temperature of transformation.

Influence of cooling rate on phase transformation and microstructure of Ti-50.9%Ni shape memory alloy

Heat treatment of Ti-50.9%Ni （mole fraction） alloy was studied by differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopey and energy dispersive X-ray analysis to investigate the influence of cooling rate on transformation behavior and microstructures of NiTi shape memory alloy. The experimental results show that three-stage phase transformation can be induced at a very low cooling rate such as cooling in furnace. The cooling rate also has a great influence on the phase transformation temperatures. Both martensitic start transformation temperature （Ms） and martensitic finish transformation temperature （Mf） decrease with the decrease of the cooling rate, and decreasing the cooling rate contributes to enhancing the M→A austenite transformation temperature. The phase transformation hysteresis （Af-Mf） increases with the decrease of the cooling rate. Heat treatment is unable to eliminate the textures formed in hot working of NiTi sample, but can weaken the intensity of them. The cooling rate has little influence on the grain size.

Kinetic analysis of austenite transformation for B1500HS high-strength steel during continuous heating

The dilatometric curves of B1500HS high-strength steel at different heating rates were measured by a Gleeble-3800 thermal simulator and analyzed to investigate the effect of heating rate on austenitization.Results show that the value of starting temperature and ending temperature of austenite transformation increase with the rise of heating rates,whereas the temperature interval of austenite formation decreases.The kinetic equation of austenite transformation was solved using the Johnson–Mehl–Avrami model,and the related parameters of the equation were analyzed by the Kissinger method.For those calculations,the activation energy of austenite transformation is 1.01×10^6 J/mol,and the values of kinetic parameters n and ln k0 are 0.63 and 103.03,respectively.The relationship between the volume fraction of austenite and the heating time at different heating rates could be predicted using the kinetic equation.The predicted and experimental results were compared to verify the accuracy of the kinetic equation.The microstructure etched by different corrosive solutions was analyzed,and the reliability of kinetic equation was further verified from the microscopic perspective.

Modeling of Incubation Time for Austenite to Ferrite Phase Transformation

On the basis of the classical nucleation theory, a new model of incubation time for austenite to ferrite transformation has been developed, in which the effect of deformation on austenite has been taken into consideration. To prove the precision of modeling, ferrite transformation starting temperature （Ar3） has been calculated using the Scheil＇s additivity rule, and the Ar3 values were measured using a Gleeble 1500 thermomechanical simulator. The Ar3 values provided by the modeling method coincide with the measured ones, indicating that the model is precise in oredicting the incubation time for austenite to ferrite transformation in hot deformed steels.

Effect of Austenite Pre-deformation on Isothermal Martensite Transformation in an Fe-20.5Ni-4.8Mn Alloy

With electron microscopy the investigation on isothermal martensite transformation in an Fe20.5Ni-4.8Mn alloy has been carried out to clarify the effect of austenite state on the transformation, by applying pre-deformation to austenite before isothermal holding. Under the condition without pre-deformation, the isothermal martensite products are lath martensite with {111}fhabit planes. Dislocations in austenite seem to contribute to nucleation of martensite, and in this nascent Stage austenite substructure has no obvious effect on martensite growth. The consequent thickening of martensite laths is apparently influenced by local austenite states, resulting in the changes in orientation, morphology as well as substructure of martensite lath. The kinetics of isothermal martensite transformation is controlled by intedece dislocation determined nucleation of martensite in primary stage, but to a larger extent, by the austenite accommodation for the shape strain of martensite in the thickening Stage

Transformation Behaviour of Austenite in Steel under Condition of Stress-strain and Its Application

Austenite can be retained at ambient temperature in steels by alloying and processing control. The transformation from austenite to martensite occurs under a certain conditions : thermal or deformation. Stress-strain induced martensitic transformation is important to improve the plasticity of steels which is called transformation induced plasticity (TRIP). Strength-ductility balance of the steels is greatly superior to that of other high strength steels due to the TRIP effect. A new type of steels-TRIP steel is developed

Microstructural Transformation and Precipitation of an Ultra-high Strength Steel under Continuous Cooling

We investigated phase transition and precipitation of ultra-high strength steel（UHSS）in a new ＂short process＂ with controlled rolling and controlled cooling.Thermalexpansion test combined with metallographic observation was used to research the continuous cooling transformation（CCT）curve.Moreover,the microstructuraltransformation and precipitation law was revealed by morphologicalobservation and alloying elements by electron probe micro-analyzer（EPMA）.Transmission electron microscopy（TEM）was utilized to analyze the composition and grain orientation of microstructure.The study showed that the measured criticaltransformation temperatures of Ac1 and Ac3 were 746 and 868 ℃,respectively.The CCT curve indicated that the undercooled austenite was transformed into proeutectoid ferrite and bainite with HV 520 in a broad range of cooling rate 0.1^（-1） ℃·s^（-1）.When subjected to a cooling rate of 1 ℃·s^（-1）,the undercooled austenite was divided into small-sized blocks by formed martensite.With further increase of cooling rate,micro-hardness increased dramatically,the microstructure of specimen was mainly lathe bainite（LB）,granular bainite（GB）,lath martensite（LM）and residualaustenite.By diffraction test analysis,it was identified that there was K-S orientation relationship between martensite and austenite for {110}_α//{111}_γ,{111}_α//{101}_γ.EPMA clearly showed that carbon diffused adequately due to staying for a long time at high temperature with a lower cooling rate of 2 ℃·s-1.Phase transition drive force was lower and the residualaustenite existed in the block form of Martensite austenite island（M-A）.With the increase of cooling rate to 10 ℃·s^（-1）,the block residualaustenite reduced,the carbon content of residualaustenite increased and α phase around the residualaustenite formed into a low carbon bainite form.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RETAINED AUSTENITE AND STRAIN FOR Si-Mn TRIP STEEL

The equation which reflects the relationship between the retained austenite and strain has been proposed and clear TRIP can be obtained while the S value (An index of retained austenite stability) is less than 6.5 for Silicon-Manganese TRIP steel

Residual Ferrite Control of 9Cr ODS Steels by Tailoring Reverse Austenite Transformation

By tailoring the reverse austenite transformation behavior of 9 Cr oxide dispersion strengthened(ODS)ferritic/martensitic steels,the residual ferrite in ODS steels can be controlled.The reverse austenite transformation behavior of ODS steels is closely related to the initial microstructure conditions prior to austenite transformation.For the spark plasma sintered steels,both the amount and size of residual ferrite decrease with increasing heating rate.Nevertheless,high heating rate will increase the amount and size of residual ferrite in annealed ODS steels.As an isothermal treatment is performed at temperatures above Ac 1,lower isothermal temperature has a more evident effect on the ferrite distribution in spark plasma sintered steels than that in annealed ones.

Correlation of isothermal bainite transformation and austenite stability in quenching and partitioning steels

The possible decomposition of metastable austenite during the partitioning process in the high end quenching and partitioning （Q＆P） steels is somewhat neglected by most researchers. The effects of primary martensite and alloying elements including manganese, cobalt and aluminum on the isothermal decomposition of austenite during typical Q＆P process were studied by dilatometry. The transformation kinetics was studied systematically and resulting microstruc tures were discussed in details. The results suggested that the primary martensite decreased the incubation period of isothermal decomposition by accelerating the nucleation process owing to dislocations especially on phase and grain boundaries. This effect can be eliminated by a flash heating which recovered dislocations. Co addition significantly promoted the bainite transformation during partitioning while A1 and Mn suppressed the isothermal bainite transformation. The bainite transformation played an important role in carbon distribution during partitioning, and hence the amount and stability of austenite upon final quenching. The bainite transformation during partitioning is an important factor in optimizing the microstructure in Q＆P steels.

Microstructures and mechanical properties of the third generation automobile steels fabricated by ART-annealing

The mechanical properties dependence on the microstructure was reviewed and analyzed,and the ultrafine grained duplex microstructure of BCC matrix and large fractioned austenite was given as one of the optimum structures to develop the third generation steel with high strength and high ductility.The medium-Mn steels with different carbon contents processed by austenite reverted transformation(ART-annealing) were studied thoroughly to fabricate the ultrafine duplex steels with large fractioned austenite.The lamellar typed ultrafine structure,the granular typed ultrafine duplex structure and the corresponding mechanical properties of the medium-Mn steels processed by ART-annealing were demonstrated in this paper.It was revealed that the duplex structure with large fraction of austenite and ultrafine grain structure is capable of producing steels with excellent combination of strength and ductility,i.e.,Rm A about 30-50 GPa%,which is about two times of that of the conventional automobile steels and close to that of the TWIP steels.It was concluded that the ART-annealing of the medium-Mn steels would be at least one of the promising ways to fabricate the third generation automobile steels in the near future.

A thermodynamic model on predicting density of medium-Mn steels with experimental verification

A new model on predicting the density of hot-rolled multi-phased medium-Mn steel has been presen ted on the basis of thermodynamic calculations. This is an integrated model, which includes one for calculating the retained austenite （RA） fraction and the other for volume expansion during the aus tenite-to martensite transformation, because both of them are key parameters for calculating the den- sity of steel at ambient temperature. The existing empirical equations for calculating Mx temperature and lattice constants of both martensite and austenite have been all rcassessed by the XRD measure ments on the microstructures of seven hot-rolled medium-Mn steels. Finally, the densities ot seven steels were calculated merely from compositions and compared with the measured ones. The differ ence between them is no more than 1 %, suggesting that the presented model should be of good value in designing the low density steels.

Microstructure evolution and mechanical properties influenced by austenitizing temperature in aluminum-alloyed TRIP-aided steel

The Fe-0.21C 2.2Mn 0.49Si-1.77A1 transformation induced plasticity （TRIP） aided steel was heat trea- ted at various austenitizing temperatures under both TRiP-aided polygonal ferrite type （TPF） and an- nealed martensite matrix （TAM） processes. The microstructure evolution and their effects on mechanical properties were systematically investigated through the microstructure observation and dilatometric analysis. The microstructure homogeneity is improved in TPF steel heated at a high temperature due to the reduced banded martensite and the increased bainite. Compared with the mechanical properties of the TPF steels, the yield strength and elongation of the TAM steels are much higher, while the tensile strength is lower than that of TPF steels. The stability of intercritical austenite is affected by the heating tempera- ture, and thus the following phase transformation influences the mechanical properties, such as the bain- ite transformation and the precipitation of polygonal ferrite. Obvious dynamic bainite transformation occurs at TAM850, TAM900 and TAM950, More proportion of polygonal ferrite is found in the sample heated at 950 ℃. The bainite transformation beginning at a higher temperature results in the wider bainitic ferrite laths. The more proportion of polygonal ferrite and wide bainitic ferrite laths commonly contribute to the lower strength and better elongation. The uniform microstructure with lath-like morphology and retained austenite with high average carbon content ensures a good mechanical property in TAM850 with the product of strength and elongation of about 28 GPa ·%,

Quantitative Analysis of the Crystallographic Orientation Relationship Between the Martensite and Austenite in Quenching–Partitioning–Tempering Steels

The orientation relationships（ORs）between the martensite and the retained austenite in low-and medium-carbon steels after quenching–partitioning–tempering process were studied in this work.The ORs in the studied steels are identified by selected-area electron diffraction（SAED）as either K–S or N–W ORs.Meanwhile,the ORs were also studied based on numerical fitting of electron backscatter diffraction data method suggested by Miyamoto.The simulated K–S and N–W ORs in the low-index directions generally do not well coincide with the experimental pole figure,which may be attributed to both the orientation spread from the ideal variant orientations and high symmetry of the low-index directions.However,the simulated results coincide well with experimental pole figures in the high-index directions{123}_（bcc）.A modified method with simplicity based on Miyamoto’s work was proposed.The results indicate that the ORs determined by modified method are similar to those determined by Miyamoto’method,that is,the OR is near K–S OR for the low-carbon Q–P–T steel,and with the increase of carbon content,the OR is closer to N–W OR in medium-carbon Q–P–T steel.