The microstructural changes in an Fe-Co-V alloy (composition by wt.%: 2.97 V, 48.70 Co, 47.34 Fe and balance impurities, such as C, P and Ni) resulting from different heat treatments have been evaluated by optical metallography and transmission electron microscopy. Results indicate that, on air cooling or quenching into iced-brine from the high temperature single phase ϒ (fcc) field, vanadium can be retained in a supersaturated solid solution (α2) which has bcc structure. For the range of cooling rates employed, a portion of the material appears to undergo the γ-α2 transformation massively and the remainder martensitically. Figure 1 shows dislocation topology in a region that may have transformed martensitically. Dislocations are homogeneously distributed throughout the matrix, and there is no evidence for cell formation. The majority of the dislocations project along the projections of <111> vectors onto the (111) plane, implying that they are predominantly of screw character.
Semi-Automatic Optimization of Steel Heat Treatments for Achieving Desired Microstructure
