Microstructural Characterisation of Ti Containing Fe-7Al-0.35C Based Low-Density Steel

In this paper, the role of Ti on the in-situ formation of carbides and its effect on the microstructure of Fe-7Al-0.35C alloy have been investigated. Initially, Thermo-Calc software was used to predict the phases present in the alloys which were validated by experimental work. Vacuum arc remelting process was used to make an alloy pancake of 10-mm thickness, which was hot-rolled to 2-mm thickness. The alloys were characterised by X-ray diffraction, optical, scanning electron microscope and electron probe micro-analysis. The results show that all the alloys exhibit two types of TiC precipitates, which are dark cuboidal as primary and dark acicular type as secondary precipitates along with grey-coloured needle-shaped κ-carbide precipitate in α(Fe–Al) matrix. The carbon present in the alloy is partitioned between TiC and κ-carbide precipitates. Addition of Ti has also resulted in grain refinement of all the alloys.