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The addition of 1.5–2 wt% Si is a commonly used alloying approach for TRIP steels. Si delays cementite precipitation during bainite transformation thereby enabling that an adequate amount of austenite can be retained at room temperature due to sufficient carbon enrichment. However, the degree of cementite prevention and thus the fraction of retained austenite depend on the employed processing parameters and steel chemistry. The present work proposes a modelling framework to quantify the delayed carbide precipitation during bainite formation. A nucleation-growth based model describes the simultaneous formation of bainitic ferrite and cementite precipitation for various continuous cooling scenarios. The retarding effect of Si on cementite precipitation is explicitly accounted for. The fraction of bainite and the carbon content of the remaining austenite, which determines the Ms temperature of remaining austenite, can be tracked along non-isothermal processing paths. The proposed model is evaluated using continuous cooling transformation data for a 0.19C–1.5Mn–1.6Si–0.2Mo (wt%) steel.

Bainite is of considerable importance in the design of high strength steels. There are two types of morphologies, upper and lower bainite. In upper bainite, cementite forms between adjacent bainitic ferrite plates. In certain steels, however, the cementite reaction is suppressed so that carbon-enriched austenite remains untransformed between bainitic ferrite plates. In lower bainite, cementite also has the opportunity to precipitate within bainitic ferrite plates. In order to model the development of these microstructures, it is necessary to treat the simultaneous formation of both the ferritic and carbide components of the microstructure. A theory has been developed to do exactly this, enabling the estimation of the phase fractions, the cementite particle size and the transition from upper to lower bainite. The results have been compared against experimental data.

Lath martensite structures, tempered at various temperatures (723-923 K) were studied by changing heating rates (2 K/s to 1 000 K/s) to the tempering temperature in an alloy steel for machine structural use (SCM435; Fe-0.35C-0.24Si-0.77Mn-1.05Cr-0.17Mo). Hardness of the rapidly heated (at 100 K/s or 1 000 K/s) specimen is larger than that of the slowly heated (at 2 K/s) specimen when tempering temperature and time are the same. Cementite precipitates are formed on high-angle boundaries (prior austenite grain boundary, block and packet boundaries) as well as within laths and at low-angle boundaries (lath boundaries) by tempering. TEM observation has revealed that finer cementite is dispersed more uniformly in the rapidly heated specimen than in the slowly heated specimen. It is considered that the temperature where cementite precipitation starts is raised by increasing the heating rate to tempering temperature, resulting in a higher nucleation rate and a finer dispersion of cementite.

Solidification behavior of high-nickel grain roll materials has been studied experimentally with a unidirectional solidification method. Two specimens were employed; A had the standard chemical composition, and B had the composition which promoted white iron solidification. Solidification structures were observed, and the amount of graphite was measured. The temperature difference between ledeburite (γ+Fe3C) and austenite-graphite (γ+G) eutectic fronts was measured, and there appeared to be a good correlation between this value and the amount of graphite. Then the positions of the two eutectic fronts and the temperature difference were discussed with regard to solidification parameters.The results obtained were as follows:(1) The critical cooling rate of transition from white to mottled iron in A is 0.12-0.15 K s–1, and for B, it is 0.050-0.067 K s–1.(2) The austenite-graphite eutectic front precedes the ledeburite eutectic front at a smaller growth rate, while the latter forms first at a larger growth rate in A. Ledeburite always forms first in B.(3) The sequences and temperature difference of both eutectic fronts agree with the results calculated using the Fe-C binary eutectic solidification model.

The spheroidization of cementite at subcritical and intercritical temperatures was studied quantitatively by evaluation of a shape factor for the cementite particles. It was found that the degree of spheroidization, as determined by the values of the shape factor, was markedly accelerated by treatments consisting in either (1) subcritical annealing after cold deformation or (2) intercritical annealing followed by subcritical annealing. Nevertheless, some differences were found among the microstructures resulting from the above treatments, which were related to the mechanisms of cementite formation in each of them. Also, the kinetics of austenitization during intercritical annealing was found to be accelerated by previous deformation, and the analysis of the formation of austenite at intercritical temperatures in terms of an Avrami equation was consistent with an "effective" saturation of ferrite-pearlite boundaries with austenite nuclei, followed by a planar mode of growth into the pearlite nodules.

The grain boundary cementite and Widmanstatten cementite consisted in a hypereutectoid steel have been considered to cause the brittle fracture. In this study, the effect of cobalt addition on the transformation behavior of the hypereutectoid steel has been examined in order to control the grain boundary cementite precipitation. It was found that in the case of hypereutectoid steels containing carbon content less than 1.3 wt%, the grain boundary cementite precipitation could be suppressed with the cobalt addition and patenting treatment.By suppression of grain boundary cementite, the hypereutectoid steel showed good drawability comparable with that of eutectoid steel and the increase of tensile strength comparing with eutectoid steel. The analysis using Embury-Fisher relation showed that the increase of workhardening rate was due to the refinement of lamellar spacing, which was confirmed by microstructural observation. Furthermore, it was found that refinement of lamellar spacing was attributed to increased carbon content in the case of fully pearlitic microstructure. The effect of cobalt addition on the transformation behavior was also discussed from CCT curves.

The crystallography of pearlite during the growth process in plain and alloy steels is investigated by transmission electron microscopy. The results show that the ferrite/cementite orientation is controlled by one of the two relations, viz., Pitsch or Bagaryatskii. The relation basically depends on the mechanism of nucleation either at “clean” austenite boundaries or on the pre-existing proeutectoid phase. The degeneration or spheroidization of cementite lamellae on reducing the transformation temperature is attributed to insufficient diffusion of carbon to maintain the lamellar shape. This process has no influence on the lattice relationship. In consistence with this conclusion, the interlamellar spacings are almost constant, despite the change in the pearlite morphology.