Crystallographic Analysis of Martensite in 0.2C-2.0Mn-1.5Si-0.6Cr Steel by EBSD

The crystallography of martensite formed in 0.2C-2.0Mn-1.5Si-0.6Cr steel was studied using the EBSDtechnique. The results showed that the observed orientation relationship was closer to the Nishiyama-Wassermann (N-W) than to the Kurdjumov-Sachs (K-S) orientation relationship (OR). The microstructure ofmartensite consisted of parallel laths forming morphological packet-like structures. Typically, there were threedifferent lath orientations in a morphological packet consisting of three specific N-W OR variants sharing thesame {111} austenite plane. A packet of martensite laths with common {111} austenite plane was termed as acrystallographic packet. Generally, the crystallographic packet size corresponded to the morphological packetsize, but occasionally the morphological packet was found to consist of two or more crystallographic packets.Therefore, the crystallographic packet size appeared to be finer than the morphological packet size. Therelative orientation between the variants in crystallographic packets was found to be near 60°/<110>. Thisappears to explain the strong peak observed near 60° in the grain boundary misorientation distribution.Martensite also contained a high fraction of boundaries with their misorientation in the range 2.5-8°.Typically these boundaries were found to be located inside the martensite laths forming lath-like sub-grains,whose long axes were parallel with the long axis of the martensite laths

Crystallographic Analysis of Isothermally Transformed Bainite in 0.2C-2.0Mn-1.5Si-0.6Cr Steel Using EBSD

The crystallography of bainite, transformed isothermally at 450 °C in 0.2C-2.0Mn-1.5Si-0.6Cr steel, was investigated by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis. The orientation relationship (OR) was found to be closer to Nishiyama-Wassermann (N-W) than Kurdjumov-Sachs orientation relationship. Bainite microstructure consisted of parallel laths forming a morphological packet structure. Typically, there were three different lath orientations in a morphological packet. These orientations were dictated by a three specific N-W OR variants sharing the same {111} austenite plane. A packet of bainite laths with common {111} austenite plane was termed as crystallographic packet. Generally, the crystallographic packet size corresponded to the morphological packet size. Locally, crystallographic packets with only two dominant orientations were observed. This indicates strong local variant selection during isothermal bainite transformation. The relative orientation between the variants in crystallographic packets was found to be near 60°/. This appears to explain the strong peak observed in the grain boundary misorientation distribution near 60°. Bainite also contained pronounced fraction of boundaries with their misorientation in the range of 2.5°-8° with quite widely dispersed rotation angles. Spatially these boundaries were found to locate inside the bainite laths, forming lath-like sub-grains. © 2013

Crystallographic analysis of martensite in 0.2C-2.0Mn-1.5Si-0.6Cr steel by EBSD

The crystallography of martensite formed in 0.2C-2.0Mn-1.5Si-0.6Cr steel was studied using the EBSD technique. The results showed that the observed orientation relationship was closer to the Nishiyama- Wassermann (N-W) than to the Kurdjumov-Sachs (K-S) orientation relationship (OR). The microstructure of martensite consisted of parallel laths forming morphological packet-like structures. Typically, there were three different lath orientations in a morphological packet consisting of three specific N-W OR variants sharing the same {111} austenite plane. A packet of martensite laths with common {111} austenite plane was termed as a crystallographic packet. Generally, the crystallographic packet size corresponded to the morphological packet size, but occasionally the morphological packet was found to consist of two or more crystallographic packets. Therefore, the crystallographic packet size appeared to be finer than the morphological packet size. The relative orientation between the variants in crystallographic packets was found to be near 60°/. This appears to explain the strong peak observed near 60° in the grain boundary misorientation distribution. Martensite also contained a high fraction of boundaries with their misorientation in the range 2.5-8°. Typically these boundaries were found to be located inside the martensite laths forming lath-like sub-grains, whose long axes were parallel with the long axis of the martensite laths

Effect of prior austenite grain size refinement by thermal cycling on the microstructural features of as-quenched lath martensite

Current trends in steels are focusing on refined martensitic microstructures to obtain high strength and toughness. An interesting manner to reduce the size of martensitic substructure is by reducing the size of the prior austenite grain (PAG). This work analyzes the effect of PAGS refinement by thermal cycling on different microstructural features of as-quenched lath martensite in a 0.3C-1.6Si-3.5Mn (wt pct) steel. The application of thermal cycling is found to lead to a refinement of the martensitic microstructures and to an increase of the density of high misorientation angle boundaries after quenching; these are commonly discussed to be key structural parameters affecting strength. Moreover, results show that as the PAGS is reduced, the volume fraction of retained austenite increases, carbides are refined and the concentration of carbon in solid solution as well as the dislocation density in martensite increase. All these microstructural modifications are related with the manner in which martensite forms from different prior austenite conditions, influenced by the PAGS.(OLD) MSE-

Chemistry and Properties of Medium-Mn Two-Stage TRIP Steels

Eight medium manganese steels ranging from 10 to 15 wt pct Mn have been produced with varying levels of aluminum, silicon, and carbon to create steels with varying TRIP (transformation-induced plasticity) character. Alloy chemistries were formulated to produce a range of intrinsic stacking fault energies (ISFE) from − 2.2 to 13.3 mJ/m2 when calculated at room temperature for an austenitic microstructure having the nominal alloy composition. Two-stage TRIP behavior was documented when the ISFE of the γ-austenite phase was 10.5 mJ/m2 or less, whereas an ISFE of 11.9 mJ/m2 or greater exhibited TWIP (twin-induced plasticity) with single-stage TRIP to form α-martensite. Properties were measured in both hot band (hot rolled) and batch annealed (hot rolled, cold rolled, and annealed) conditions. Hot band properties were influenced by the Si/Al ratio and this dependence was related to incomplete recovery during hot working for alloys with Si/Al ratios greater than one. Batch annealing was conducted at 873 K (600 °C) for 20 hours to produce ultrafine-grained microstructures with mean free slip distances less than 1 µm. Batch-annealed materials were found to exhibit a Hall—Petch dependence of the yield strength upon the mean free slip distance measured in the polyphase microstructure. Ultimate tensile strengths ranged from 1450 to 1060 MPa with total elongations of 27 to 43 pct. Tensile ductility was shown to be proportional to the sum of the products of volume fraction transformed times the volume change associated for each martensitic transformation. An empirical relationship based upon the nominal chemistry was derived for the ultimate tensile strength and elongation to failure for these batch-annealed steels. Two additional alloys were produced based upon the developed understanding of these two-stage TRIP steels and tensile strengths of 1150 MPa with 58 pct total elongation and 1400 MPa and 32 pct ductility were achieved