Morphology of bainite and widmanstätten ferrite

Morphology of bainite and Widmanstätten ferrite in various steels has been investigated by means of microstructural and surface relief observations. It was shown that upper and lower bainite should be classified by ferrite morphology,i.e., lathlike or platelike, and that the morphology of cementite precipitation cannot be the index for the classification. Widmanstätten ferrite formed in the upper C-nose where ferrite grain-boundary allotriomorphs nucleate exhibits quite similar appearance with bainitic ferrite that forms in the lower C-nose of bainitic reaction. The only difference between them exists in the fact that Widmanstätten ferrite laths grow in the temperature range where primary ferrite forms and often terminate at a grain boundary ferrite but that bainitic ferrite has its own C-curve at temperatures belowB _s and nucleates directly at an austenite grain boundary. The mechanisms for their formations are discussed.     

Transformation Characteristics of Ferrite/Carbide Aggregate in Continuously Cooled, Low Carbon-Manganese Steels

Transformation characteristics and morphological features of ferrite/carbide aggregate (FCA) in low carbon-manganese steels have been investigated. Work shows that FCA has neither the lamellae structure of pearlite nor the lath structure of bainite and martensite. It consists of a fine dispersion of cementite particles in a smooth ferrite matrix. Carbide morphologies range from arrays of globular particles or short fibers to extended, branched, and densely interconnected fibers. Work demonstrates that FCA forms over similar cooling rate ranges to Widmanstätten ferrite. Rapid transformation of both phases occurs at temperatures between 798 K and 973 K (525 °C and 700 °C). FCA reaction is not simultaneous with Widmanstätten ferrite but occurs at temperatures intermediate between Widmanstätten ferrite and bainite. Austenite carbon content calculations verify that cementite precipitation is thermodynamically possible at FCA reaction temperatures without bainite formation. The pattern of precipitation is confirmed to be discontinuous. CCT diagrams have been constructed that incorporate FCA. At low steel manganese content, Widmanstätten ferrite and bainite bay sizes are significantly reduced so that large amounts of FCA are formed over a wide range of cooling rates.     

Bainite in steels

The mechanism of the bainite transformation in steels is reviewed, beginning with a summary of the early research and finishing with an assessment of the transformation in the context of the other reactions which occur as austenite is cooled to temperatures where it is no longer the stable phase. The review includes a detailed account of the microstructure, chemistry, and crystallography of bainitic ferrite and of the variety of carbide precipitation reactions associated with the bainite transformation. This is followed by an assessment of the thermodynamic and kinetic characteristics of the reaction and by a consideration of the reverse transformation from bainite to austenite. It is argued that there are useful mechanistic distinctions to be made between the coherent growth of ferrite initially supersaturated with carbon (bainite), coherent growth of Widmanstätten ferrite under paraequilibrium conditions, and incoherent growth of ferrite under local equilibrium or paraequilibrium conditions. The nature of the so-called acicular ferrite is also discussed.     

Thermodynamics and kinetics of the formation of widmanstätten ferrite plates in ferrous alloys

Experimental data on the formation of Widmanstätten/bainitic ferrite in ferrous alloys(i.e., the Widmanstätten start temperature, partition of alloying elements, incomplete transformation, lengthening kinetics,etc.) are examined on the basis of thermodynamic calculations and kinetic analyses. A morphological change of ferrite from grain-boundary allotriomorph to Widmanstätten plate occurs well above theT ₀ temperature, except in high Mn and Ni alloys, but does so in the regime of carbon diffusion control in all alloys. Under the assumption that the plate tip consists of a pair of ledges of the height equal to the tip radius, the reported lengthening kinetics of ferrite plates can be accounted for very well by the diffusion-controlled motion of these ledges in a wide range of carbon supersaturation. It is also shown that the transformation stasis (incomplete transformation) observed below the kinetically definedB _s in some iron alloys cannot be unequivocally attributed to either the completion of the precipitation of no-partitioned ferrite or the loss of the driving force for subsequent shear transformation.     

Local conditions at moving α/γ boundaries of proeutectoid ferrite transformation in iron alloys

The local conditions at moving α/γ boundaries in iron alloys are examined from the data on growth kinetics, solute partitioning, and critical limit of transformation. In Fe-C alloys, local equilibrium of carbon is likely to be sustained at the majority of α/γ boundaries during the growth of allotriomorphic ferrite except at some boundaries containing immobile low-energy facets. In Fe-C-X alloys, there is experimental evidence that local equilibrium of the substitutional alloying element is established at higher temperatures. However, growth under near paraequilibrium conditions may be prevalent at lower temperatures and at early growth stages. The diffusion of alloying elements in ferrite and along the austenite grain boundary may have a significant influence on the growth of ferrite near the boundary between fast and slow growth. The growth of Widmanstätten and bainitic ferrite is likely controlled by carbon diffusion, that is, without a supersaturation of carbon, while the chemical condition of carbon near the plate edge may not be identical to that of a planar disordered α/γ boundary.     

Bainite in the light of rapid continuous cooling information

Rapid continuous cooling of pure iron can produce three different transformations yielding acicular structures: Widmanstätten α, lath martensite, and lenticular martensite. The information on their extensions into binary systems with carbon, nickel, and chromium has been reviewed, and admittedly rough methods have been used for estimating growth rates in order to examine the role of diffusion. The effect of alloying elements on their plateau temperatures and growth rates indicates that Widmanstätten α in Fe-C alloys grows under conditions close to local equilibrium for carbon, and it is suggested that the same should hold for edgewise growth of bainite. In Fe-Ni alloys, there are indications that Widmanstätten α grows under a considerable solute drag, an effect which may also occur for bainite. In Fe-Cr alloys, the solute drag effect seems to be weaker but may increase with the carbon content.     

Widmanstätten ferrite plate formation in low-carbon steels

The mechanism by which Widmanstätten ferrite plates nucleate and grow in low-carbon steels has been studied. In-situ laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) observations, optical microscopy, and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) techniques have been used to characterize the relationship between grain boundary allotriomorphs and Widmanstätten ferrite plates. The issue of where Widmanstätten ferrite plates nucleate is one of some debate, with theories including morphological instability and sympathetic nucleation. Evidence has been found that supports the theory of a sympathetic nucleation mechanism being responsible for the formation of Widmanstätten ferrite plates. The EBSD measurements have shown that low-angle misorientations of between 5 and 10 deg exist between ferrite allotriomorphs and Widmanstätten ferrite plates.     

Bainite transformation temperatures in high-silicon steels

The bainite transformation temperatures of eight high-silicon steels were determined metallographically. The bainite start (B _s ) temperatures, which define the highest temperature at which bainite can form, all lay below the T ₀ loci, where ferrite and austenite of the same chemical compositions have identical free energy. The established method of calculating B _s temperatures gave reasonable agreement with the experimental results. Careful study of the isothermally reacted samples revealed that Widmanstätten ferrite and bainite could both be observed, even at the beginning of the transformation, at around the B _s temperature. On the other hand, the lower bainite start (LB _s ) temperatures of these steels were found to be very close to the martensite start (M _s ) temperatures. Silicon is considered to be responsible for depressing the LB _s temperature by retarding the formation of cementite. The coformation of upper and lower bainite near the LB _s temperature is also confirmed. The results indicate that the displacive formation mechanism of bainite is sustainable.     

Austenite decomposition during continuous cooling of an HSLA-80 plate steel

Decomposition of fine-grained austenite (10-μm grain size) during continuous cooling of an HSLA-80 plate steel (containing 0.05C, 0.50Mn, 1.12Cu, 0.88Ni, 0.71Cr, and 0.20Mo) was evaluated by dilatometric measurements, light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and microhardness testing. Between 750 °C and 600 °C, austenite transforms primarily to polygonal ferrite over a wide range of cooling rates, and Widmanst?tten ferrite sideplates frequently evolve from these crystals. Carbon-enriched islands of austenite transform to a complex mixture of granular ferrite, acicular ferrite, and martensite (all with some degree of retained austenite) at cooling rates greater than approximately 5 °C/s. Granular and acicular ferrite form at temperatures slightly below those at which polygonal and Widmanst?tten ferrite form. At cooling rates less than approximately 5 °C/s, regions of carbon-enriched austenite transform to a complex mixture of upper bainite, lower bainite, and martensite (plus retained austenite) at temperatures which are over 100 °C lower than those at which polygonal and Widmanst?tten ferrite form. Interphase precipitates of copper form only in association with polygonal and Widmanst?tten ferrite. Kinetic and microstruc-tural differences between Widmanst?tten ferrite, acicular ferrite, and bainite (both upper and lower) suggest different origins and/or mechanisms of formation for these morphologically similar austenite transformation products. Formerly Graduate Student, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Colorado School of Mines. This article is based on a presentation made during TMS/ASM Materials Week in the symposium entitled “Atomistic Mechanisms of Nucleation and Growth in Solids,” organized in honor of H.I. Aaronson’s 70th Anniversary and given October 3–5, 1994, in Rosemont, Illinois.     

A model for the development of microstructure in low-alloy steel (Fe-Mn-Si-C) weld deposits

Experimentally observed microstructural variations in a series of low-alloy steel weld deposits containing different carbon concentrations (produced using experimental electrodes) are discussed in terms of a phenomenological model based on phase transformation theory. The model requires an input of austenite grain size, chemical composition and the cooling curve of the fusion zone; this allows the calculation of isothermal transformation diagrams and quantities necessary to define the start and finish temperatures of various reactions. Allotriomorphic ferrite growth is assumed to occur by a paraequilibrium transformation mechanism; its formation is found to determine the development of both Widmanstätten and acicular ferrite. It seems possible to rationalise the microstructural variations in terms of phase transformation theory, and although the presence of inclusions for the heterogeneous intragranular nucleation of acicular ferrite seems necessary, the inclusions, when present in a concentration beyond a limiting value, do not seem to control the overall development of the microstructure.     

Effects of austenite grain size and cooling rate on Widmanstätten ferrite formation in low-alloy steels

Deformation dilatometry is used to simulate the hot rolling of 0.20 pct C-1.10 pct Mn steels over a product thickness range of 6 to 170 mm. In addition to a base steel, steels with additions of 0.02 pct Ti, 0.06 pct V, or 0.02 pct Nb are included in the study. The transformation behavior of each steel is explored for three different austenite grain sizes, nominally 30, 55, and 100 μm. In general, the volume fraction of Widmanst?tten ferrite increases in all four steels with increasing austenite grain size and cooling rate, with austenite grain size having the more significant effect. The Nb steel has the lowest transformation temperature range and the greatest propensity for Widmanst?tten ferrite formation, while the amount of Widmanst?tten ferrite is minimized in the Ti steel (as a result of intragranular nucleation of polygonal ferrite on coarse TiN particles). The data emphasize the importance of a refined austenite grain size in minimizing the formation of a coarse Widmanst?tten structure. With a sufficiently fine prior austenite grain size (e.g., ≤30 μm), significant amounts of Widmanst?tten structure can be avoided, even in a Nb-alloyed steel.     

Retained austenite and tempered martensite embrittlement in medium carbon steels

Electron microscopy, diffraction and microanalysis, X-ray diffraction, and auger spectroscopy have been used to study quenched and quenched and tempered 0.3 pct carbon low alloy steels. Somein situ fracture studies were also carried out in a high voltage electron microscope. Tempered martensite embrittlement (TME) is shown to arise primarily as a microstructural constraint associated with decomposition of interlath retained austenite into M₃C filM_s upon tempering in the range of 250 °C to 400 °C. In addition, intralath Widmanstätten Fe₃C forms from epsilon carbide. The fracture is transgranular with respect to prior austenite. The sit11Ation is analogous to that in upper bainite. This TME failure is different from temper embrittlement (TE) which o°Curs at higher tempering temperatures (approximately 500 °C), and is not a microstructural effect but rather due to impurity segregation (principally sulfur in the present work) to prior austenite grain boundaries leading to intergranular fracture along those boundaries. Both failures can o°Cur in the same steels, depending on the tempering conditions.     

Role of carbon and alloying elements in the formation of bainitic ferrite

One approach to the prediction of the carbon content of austenite, remaining after the precipitation of bainitic ferrite, is based on the assumption that bainitic ferrite during growth inherits the carbon content of the parent austenite. An alternative approach is based on the assumption that bainitic ferrite grows with a low carbon content and there is no major difference between Widmanstätten ferrite and bainitic ferrite. The two approaches are now compared using information from alloyed steels with considerable amounts of Si, where the formation of cementite is retarded. The former approach does not account for the effect of Mn and fails severely at low alloy contents. The latter approach seems more promising but is not without difficulties. In particular, in order to explain the effects of Cr and Mo, it seems necessary to introduce a kinetic effect, presumably caused by solute drag.     

Observations concerning transformation interfaces in steels

The transformation interfaces of pearlite, allotriomorphic cementite, M₂₃C₆, and Widmanstätten cementite plates in high-Mn high-C alloy steels have been studied by TEM. Linear striations in the interface have been analysed and related to intersections with stacking faults in the parent austenite phase. Emphasis is given to the pearlite interface where it is found that the striations at the interface increased as a result of thermomechanical treatment of the austenite prior to isothermal transformation, consistent with an increased density of planar defects. The effect of heat treatment, and Si alloying additions, are also considered. Both conventional and in situ TEM of the pearlite interface showed that the linear defects stretched across both ferrite and cementite phases at the pearlite interface, apparently without any deviation or change in image contrast. The results are compared with similar ones made of the static γ/α interphase boundaries in duplex stainless steel. The effect of prior deformation structure in the parent austenite on the growth and interface structure of Widmanstätten cementite plates has also been considered.     

Effects of Widmanstätten ferrite on the mechanical properties of a 0.2 pct C-0.7 pct Mn steel

Laboratory melted and rolled C-Mn steel plates were austenitized at either 925 °C or 1150 °C to produce nominal austenite grain sizes of 60 and 200 μm, resspectively. The plates were then cooled at rates in the range of about 2 °C/min to 400 °C/min to produce mixed polygonal ferrite/Widmanst?tten ferrite/pearlite microstructures. The percentage of Widmanst?tten structure (a Widmanst?tten ferrite/pearlite aggregate) increases with increasing prior austenite grain size and cooling rate. Both yield strength and impact toughness increase with decreasing austenite grain size and increasing cooling rate. This simultaneous improvement in strength and toughness is attributed to overall refinement of both the polygonal ferrite and Widmanst?tten structure. Both yield and tensile strength increase with an increase in the volume fraction of Widmanst?tten ferrite and a reduction in ferrite grain size. In contrast, the toughness level achieved in these polygonal ferrite/Widmanst?tten ferrite/pearlite microstructures depends largely on the ferrite grain size; the finer the grain size, the better the toughness.     

Effect of Composition and Processing Parameters on the Formation of Nano-Bainite in Advanced High Strength Steels

The nano-bainitic microstructures were compared in a 0.79C-1.5Si-1.98Mn-0.24Mo-1.06Al (wt%) steel after isothermal heat-treatment and a Fe-0.2C-1.5Mn-1.2Si-0.3Mo-0.6Al-0.02Nb (wt%) steel after controlled thermomechanical processing.The microstructure for both steels consisted of bainite.The microstructural characteristics of bainite,such as the morphology of the nano-bainite and thicknesses of bainitic ferrite and retained austenite layers,as a function of steel composition and processing was studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM).It was found that the nano-bainitic structure can be formed in the low alloy steel through thermomechanical processing.Atom probe tomography (APT) was employed as a powerful technique to determine local composition distributions in three dimensions with atomic resolution.The important conclusions from the APT research were that the carbon content of bainitic ferrite is higher than expected from paraequilibrium level of carbon in ferrite for both steels and that Fe-C clusters and fine particles are formed in the bainitic ferrite in both steels despite the high level of Si.     

Coupled-solute drag effects on ferrite formation in Fe-C-X systems

The influence of X upon proeutectoid ferrite/microstructurally defined bainite formation in Fe-C-X alloys, where X is Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Mo, Ni, Ni, Si, or V, is examined in terms of the competing influences of the coupled-solute drag effect (C-SDE) and the shifting in the paraequilibrium Ae3 curve. The relative strength of the C-SDE was estimated primarily in terms of the influence of X upon the Wagner interaction parameter for C-X interaction in austenite, ε ₁₂ ^γ . Changes in the W _s (Widmanstätten-start temperature) with X additions at a constant pct C are ascribed almost entirely to shifts in the paraequilibrium Ae3. Influence of X upon the steady-state nucleation rate of ferrite allotriomorphs at austenite grain faces is largely explicable upon the same basis, though additional effects appear to be exerted by Mn and Ni upon relative values of the interfacial energies involved in the nucleation process. Development of a bay in the TTT curve for initiation of ferrite formation occurs more readily with increasingly negative ε ₁₂ ^γ and increasing carbon concentration. When ε ₁₂ ^γ > 1, considerably larger X and C concentrations are required to form what may sometimes be described as a “virtual bay,” only the lower portion of which is experimentally detectable. As ε ₁₂ ^γ becomes increasingly negative (but not as much when ε ₁₂ ^γ is increasingly positive), the influence of paraequilibrium Ae3 shifts is much diminished. Widmanstätten sideplate formation is also increasingly suppressed and replaced by grain boundary and twin boundary allotriomorphs at temperatures between the upper nose and the bay of the ferrite-start TTT curve. Changes in carbide precipitation patterns and replacement of (Fe, X)₃C by alloy carbides directly follow from these alterations in ferrite morphology. When ε ₁₂ ^γ is sufficiently negative, incomplete transformation occurs below the bay temperature. Much higher proportions of X and C are required to produce this effect when ε ₁₂ ^γ > 1. Still more negative values of ε ₁₂ ^γ may be required to develop the degenerate ferrite microstructures below the bay that result from increasing C-SDE restrictions on growth and the consequent frequently repeated sympathetic nucleation.     

The effect of nitrogen on precipitation and transformation kinetics in vanadium steels

The isothermal decomposition of austenite has been studied in a series of vanadium steels containing varying amounts of carbon and nitrogen, (in approximately stoichio-metric proportions), in the temperature range 700 to 850°C. In the basic alloy, Fe-0.27V–0.05C (composition in wt pct), below 810°C the austenite to polygonal ferrite trans-formation is accompanied by interphase precipitation of vanadium carbide, the finer dis-persions being associated with the lower transformation temperatures. However, below 760°C there is an additional precipitation reaction where dislocation precipitation of vanadium carbide predominates; this is shown to occur in association with Widmanstätten ferrite. Above 810° C, a proeutectoid ferrite reaction results, the ferrite being void of precipitates; evidence is provided to show that partitioning of vanadium from ferrite to austenite occurs during the transformation. In the two steels containing nitrogen, namely Fe-0.26V-0.022N-0.020C and Fe-0.29V-0.032 N the basic interphase precipitation re-action is unchanged, but the resultant precipitate dispersions are finer at a given trans-formation temperature. The temperature range over which interphase precipitation oc-curs is expanded by the presence of nitrogen, since the Widmanstätten start tempera-ture is depressed and the proeutectoid ferrite reaction is inhibited. Precipitation in austenite prior to transformation and twin formation during transformation are both en-couraged by the presence of nitrogen.     

Observations of Surface Relief of Proeutectoid Widmanstätten Cementite Plates in a Hypereutectoid Carbon Steel

Proeutectoid Widmanstätten cementite in a hypereutectoid carbon steel was found to be associated with a surface relief effect. A hot-stage microscope was used for heat treatment and in situ observation. Widmanstätten cementite plates were obtained near the surface of the specimen. The surface relief effect of Widmanstätten cementite plates was quantitatively characterized by atomic force microscopy. It was found that the relief had either a typical tent shape or apex-lost tent shape. The relief tilt angles were of considerable dispersion, ranging from 20 deg to 50 deg.