C-Curves for Lengthening of Widmanstätten and Bainitic Ferrite

Widmanstätten ferrite and bainitic ferrite are both acicular and their lengthening rate in binary Fe-C alloys and low-alloyed steels under isothermal conditions is studied by searching the literature and through new measurements. As a function of temperature, the lengthening rate can be represented by a common curve for both kinds of acicular ferrite in contrast to the separate C-curves often presented in time-temperature-transformation (TTT) diagrams. The curves for Fe-C alloys with low carbon content show no obvious decrease in rate at low temperatures down to 623 K (350 °C). For alloys with higher carbon content, the expected decrease of rate as a function of temperature below a nose was observed. An attempt to explain the absence of a nose for low carbon contents by an increasing deviation from local equilibrium at high growth rates is presented. This explanation is based on a simple kinetic model, which predicts that the growth rates for Fe-C alloys with less than 0.3 mass pct carbon are high enough at low temperatures to make the carbon pileup, in front of the advancing tip of a ferrite plate, shrink below atomic dimensions, starting at about 600 K (323 °C).QC 20170817</p

Formation of Highly Misoriented Fragments at Hot Band Grain Boundaries During Cold Rolling of Interstitial-Free Steel

The deformation heterogeneities that form in the vicinity of prior hot band grain boundaries in a 75 pct cold-rolled interstitial-free steel have been investigated by 3D electron backscatter diffraction. Grain boundary-affected regions occupy a large fraction of the overall material volume. The coexistence of several features, such as steep orientation gradients up to 5 deg/µm, high-angle boundary networks, and thin, elongated grain boundary fragments, has confirmed the highly complex nature of these regions. Most notably, these thin boundary fragments were found to be significantly misoriented from any of the deformed grains immediately adjacent to the boundary. Overall, grain boundary regions adopt the so-called ‘deformation banding’ mode of deformations on both the micro (e.g., steep gradients)- and nano (e.g., thin fragments)-length scales. Grain boundary structures comprise the essential features to act as preferred sites for recrystallization. The discovery of numerous thin grain boundary fragments in the deformation microstructure provides a plausible explanation for the origin of recrystallized grains with orientations other than those found within the adjoining deformed grains in the vicinity of grain boundaries; this phenomenon has been commonly observed in texture data for many years but remained unexplained