bainite in steels - computational metallurgy group, gift.pdfVIP

Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology, POSTECH Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology, POSTECH, Korea H. K. D. H. Bhadeshia H. K. D. H. Bhadeshia and Weijei Liu Bainite in Steels Bainite forms by the decomposition of austenite at a temperature which is above MS but below that at which fine pearlite forms. All bainite forms below the T0 temperature. All time–temperature–transformation (TTT) diagrams consist essentially of two C–curves (Fig. 1). If we focus first on the Fe–Mn–C steel with the higher hardenability (slower rates of transformation) then the two curves are separated. The upper C–curve represents the time required to initiate reconstructive transformations such as ferrite or pearlite, whereas the lower C–curve represents displacive transformations such as bainite or Widmanst¨atten ferrite. Notice that as the hardenability of the steel decreases, the two curves tend to overlap so that in experiments it appears as if the TTT diagram contains just one curve with a complicated shape, describing all the reactions. This is not the case because it is possible to show that this is an experimental artifact caused by the inability to detect the two C–curves separately. Fig. 1: TTT diagrams for two steels, one of which has a high hardenability. A further feature to note (Fig. 1, Fe–Mn–C) is that the lower C–curve representing dis- placive transformations has a flat top. This represents the highest temperature Th at which displacive transformations may occur. The temperature Th may equal the bainite–start tem- perature BS if the hardenability is high enough, but otherwise, Th = WS where WS is the Wid- manst¨atten ferrite start–temperature (Fig. 2). The latter does not form in high–hardenability