Isothermal decomposition of austenite in presence of martensite in advanced high strength steels: A review

The development of the quenching and partitioning (Q&P) process has prompted an interest in the process of isothermal transformation in presence of a pre-existing phase such as martensite. The presence of prior martensite is known to accelerate the overall kinetics of bainite formation, both in the 1-step and 2-step Q&P process. The...

Understanding bainite formation in steels

The formation of bainite in steels is one of the most intensely researched topics in the field of metallurgy. Despite the importance of bainite among the modern-day steels, even a qualitative theory to explain the bainite formation still remains a subject of controversy due to the complexity of its formation mechanism. Currently, two competing...

Atomic-scale investigations of isothermally formed bainite microstructures in 51CrV4 spring steel

Atomic-scale investigation was performed on 51CrV4 steel, isothermally held at different temperatures within the bainitic temperature range. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis revealed three different morphologies: lower, upper, and inverse bainite. Atom Probe Tomography (APT) analysis of lower bainite revealed cementite...

An in-situ LSCM study on bainite Formation in a Fe-0.2C-1.5Mn-2.0Cr Alloy

Direct microscopic observation of the isothermal bainite evolution in terms of nucleation events, the location of the nuclei, as well as their growth is very valuable for the refinement of models predicting the kinetics of bainite transformation. To this aim, the microstructural evolution in a Fe-0.2C-1.5Mn-2.0Cr alloy during isothermal...

Predicting the cooperative effect of Mn–Si and Mn–Mo on the incomplete bainite formation in quaternary Fe–C alloys

Predicting the effect of alloying elements on the degree of incomplete austenite to bainite transformation in low carbon steels is of great industrial importance. This study introduces an extended Gibbs energy balance model which makes use of an additive approach to calculate the coupled effect of Mn, Si and Mo on the fraction of bainitic...