Characterization of the peritectic reaction in medium-alloy steel through microsegregation and heat-of-transformation studies

In the present work, the phenomenon of the peritectic reaction was characterized in a medium-alloy steel. Several directional solidifcation and thermal-analysis experiments were done to investigate the reaction process. Directional solidification experiments carried out did not tend to show any direct evidence of a peritectic reaction. Microsegregation studies on the directionally solidified samples and those solidified under isothermal conditions bring out some interesting features. It has been documented that if the segregation ratio for Ni is higher than that for Cr, there is a correlation that the peritectic reaction had occurred in that region. On the other hand, a higher Cr segregation ratio as compared to Ni showed the possibility that the liquid had directly transformed to γ-austenite without undergoing a peritectic reaction. Measurement of energies of transformations and the analysis of their values in different segments of the cooling-curve differential thermal analysis (DTA) experiments have helped in understanding the peritectic reaction. It is revealed that the transformation is more like diffusionless transformation, where γ-austenite directly precipitates from δ-ferrite. Indeed, this proposition is also supported by the segregation patterns for Cr and Ni obtained in the solidified samples of this steel during directional solidifcation and DTA experiments and also by calculations to show the presence of enough lattice defects or vacancies to aid the aforementioned transformation.