Precipitation Versus Partitioning Kinetics During the Quenching of Low-Carbon Martensitic Steels

Low-carbon, low-alloy steels undergo auto-tempering and carbon partitioning to austenite during quenching to martensite. The microstructures of two such steels quenched at two cooling rates have been evaluated using electron microscopy to characterise lath and carbide precipitate morphologies, and t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Shashank Ramesh Babu, Matias Jaskari, Antti Jarvenpää, Thomas Paul Davis, Jukka Kömi, David Porter
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-06-01
Series:Metals
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/10/7/850
Description
Summary:Low-carbon, low-alloy steels undergo auto-tempering and carbon partitioning to austenite during quenching to martensite. The microstructures of two such steels quenched at two cooling rates have been evaluated using electron microscopy to characterise lath and carbide precipitate morphologies, and the results have been compared with theoretical predictions based on the Thermo-Calc modules DICTRA and TC-Prisma. The modelling tools predicted the carbon depletion rates due to diffusion from the bcc martensite laths into austenite and the precipitation of cementite in the ferrite matrix. The predictions showed a satisfactory agreement with the metallographic results, indicating that the Thermo-Calc based software can aid in the design of new low-carbon martensitic steels.
ISSN:2075-4701