Microstructure Evolution in Belt-Casted Strip of Grain Oriented Electrical Steel

This paper deals with the formation and decomposition of Widmanstätten austenite during solidification of the thin belt-casted strip made of a grain oriented electrical steel (GOES). Solidification of liquid steel starts with the formation of d-ferrite. Cooling in the delta + gama phase field results in the formation of a small fraction of Widmanstätten austenite by displacive transformation accompanied by carbon partition. Widmanstätten austenite laths have an orientation relationship with the ferrite grain into which they grow. Furthermore, they form a flat low energy interface along the ferrite grain boundary. In order to minimize the interfacial energy, ferrite grain boundaries in the vicinity of flat austenite/ferrite interface facets are forced to migrate which results in straightening of these grain boundaries. If parallel Widmanstätten austenite laths form in two adjacent ferrite grains, zig–zag ferrite grain boundaries arise. Precipitation of sulphides along ferrite/austenite interfaces make it possible to study the early stages of austenite decomposition under the delta + gama phase field. It starts with the formation of epitaxial ferrite accompanied by further partitioning of carbon into remaining austenite. The growth of epitaxial ferrite into the flat ferrite/austenite interface facets along ferrite grain boundaries results in a wavy shape of these ferrite grain boundaries. Finally austenite transforms either to pearlite or to plate martensite.

Carbon Redistribution in Martensite in High-C Steel: Atomic-Scale Characterization and Modelling

The microstructure of the as-quenched plate martensite in a high-C steel 100Cr6 was characterized by means of electron microscopy and atom probe tomography. The carbon redistribution behavior was investigated at the atomic scale, which revealed the nature of the transformation dynamics influenced by carbon and other substitutional alloying elements. A model was proposed to predict the carbon redistribution at twins and dislocations in martensite, which was based on their spatial arrangements.

The Application of Acoustic Emission and Artificial Neural Networks in an Analysis of Kinetics in the Phase Transformation of Tool Steel During Austempering

During the course of the study it involved tool steel C105U was used. The steel was austempered at temperatures of 130°C, 160°C and 180°C respectively. Methods of acoustic emission (AE) were used to investigate the resulting effects associated with transformations and a large number of AE events were registered. Neural networks were applied to analyse these phenomena. In the tested signal, three groups of events were identified of: high, medium and low energy. The average spectral characteristics enabled the power of the signal spectrum to be determined. After completing the process, the results were compiled in the form of diagrams of the relationship of the AE incidence frequency as a function of time. Based on the results, it was found that in the austempering of tool steel, in the first stage of transformation midrib morphology is formed. Midrib is a twinned thin plate martensite. In the 2nd stage of transformation, the intensity of the generation of medium energy events indicates the occurrence of bainite initialised by martensite. The obtained graphic of AE characteristics of tool steel austempering allow conclusions to be drawn about the kinetics and the mechanism of this transformation.

Martensite

The formation of martensite is characterized by its athermal transformation kinetics, crystallographic features, and development of fine structure. This chapter describes the diffusionless, shear-type transformation of austenite to martensite and how it affects the morphology and microstructure of heat-treatable carbon steels. It also provides information on lath and plate martensite and how they differ in structure and deformation properties.