Rangasayee Kannan

Identification of Inverse Bainite in Fe-0.84C-1Cr-1Mn Hypereutectoid Low Alloy Steel

A unique dilatation trend is observed for isothermal bainite transformation in Fe-0.84 pct C-1 pct Cr-1 pct Mn steel. The dilatation is found to occur in two stages with volumetric contraction dominating the first stage, followed by volumetric expansion dominating the second stage. Through electron microscopic characterization, bainitic microstructure is identified as inverse bainite with cementite (Fe3C) nucleating first from supersaturated austenite followed by the transformation of ferrite and secondary carbides (Fe3C, Fe2C, and Fe5C2) from carbon-depleted austenite.

Correlation Between Intercritical Heat-Affected Zone and Type IV Creep Damage Zone in Grade 91 Steel

A soft zone in Cr-Mo steel weldments has been reported to accompany the infamous Type IV cracking, the highly localized creep damage in the heat-affected zone of creep-resistant steels. However, the microstructural features and formation mechanism of this soft zone are not well understood. In this study, using microhardness profiling and microstructural verification, the initial soft zone in the as-welded condition was identified to be located in the intercritical heat-affected zone of P91 steel weldments. It has a mixed structure, consisting of Cr-rich re-austenitized prior austenite grains and fine Cr-depleted, tempered martensite grains retained from the base metal. The presence of these further-tempered retained grains, originating from the base metal, is directly responsible for the hardness reduction of the identified soft zone in the as-welded condition. The identified soft zone exhibits a high location consistency at three thermal stages. Local chemistry analysis and thermodynamic calculation show that the lower chromium concentrations inside these retained grains thermodynamically decrease their potentials for austenitic transformation during welding. Heterogeneous grain growth is observed in the soft zone during postweld heat treatment. The mismatch of strengths between the weak Cr-depleted grains and strong Cr-rich grains enhances the creep damage. Local deformation of the weaker Cr-depleted grains accelerates the formation of creep cavities.

A dilatometric analysis of inverse bainite transformation

The unique two-stage dilatation curve observed during the inverse bainite transformation of a hypereutectoid low alloy steel is analyzed to understand the transformation kinetics. A new algorithm is proposed to extract the bainitic phase fractions from the raw dilatometry data. The proposed data extraction algorithm is generic that relies only on the density of phases involved in the transformation. To verify the extracted phase fraction, a kinetics model is developed using the principles of diffusion and Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Kolmogorov kinetics. The predicted phase fractions by the kinetics model agree fairly well with the experimental phase fraction results from dilatometry, metallography, and XRD. The two-stage transformation can be explained by the kinetics of inverse bainite as a diffusion-controlled transformation product. The transformation proceeds in a para-equilibrium mode, involving only the diffusion of carbon at the inverse bainite/parent austenite interface

Homogenisation of austenite during non-equilibrium heating in hypereutectoid steels

ABSTRACT The homogenisation (Stage III) of austenite during non-equilibrium heating of hypereutectoid steels has been characterised for the first time through dilatometric strain measurements and electron microscopic techniques. It has been found that the homogenisation temperature (Ach) is significantly higher than the cementite dissolution temperature (Acm). Though there is a complete conversion of low-temperature constituents to austenite above the Acm, a significant segregation of carbon in the austenite is observed below the Ach. Performing heat treatment with an incomplete austenitisation between the Acm and the Ach temperature can affect the subsequent on-cooling phase transformations. It is proposed that the Ach temperature should be used as the full austenitisation temperature in hypereutectoid steels.