Features of Austenite Formation in Low-Carbon Steel during High Speed Heating Induced by High-Speed Deformation

An experiment is performed for explosive convergence (collapse) of a cylindrical shell of low carbon steel with a ferrite-perlite structure. It is revealed that during ultra-rapid heating caused by high-speed deformation austenite formation occurs in an unusual sequence: first, free ferrite is converted, then pearlite. The decrease in free ferrite transformation temperature is explained by action of high pressure, as well as by varying degrees of heating steel structural constituents. An effect of barothermal quenching is observed, as a result of which a pearlite-martensite structure forms.