Effect of composition on kinetics of athermal martensite formation in plain carbon steels

Abstract

The kinetics of martensite formation in three Fe–C–Mn alloys has been determined using dilatometry, and is compared with the data for other steels reported in literature. Each curve can be well described by the Koistinen–Marburger equation using a composition dependent start temperature and rate parameter α _m. The empirical relationship derived for α _m as a function of the chemical composition can improve predictions with the Koistinen–Marburger model of the volume fraction martensite at a certain temperature.