The heat treatment process on ADI consists of austenitization, austempering and quenching to room temperature. Finally, ausferritic microstructure and nodule graphite formed in the ADI material. The parameters austempering time and temperature in the heat treatment process directly affect the morphology of ausferritic structure, which furthermore determine the mechanical properties of the material for industrial applications.
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atom probe tomography (APT) and small angle neutron scattering (SANS) investigations were carried out to quantify the relationship between heat treatment parameters and ausferritic microstructure. At the same time, the process of carbon redistribution during the heat treatment has been explored using in-situ synchrotron diffraction and APT.
The retained austenite in ausferrite is metastable and transforms into martensite during plastic deformation in a similar process as has been found in TRIP steels. The evolution of the martensite phase fraction as a function of plastic deformation has been quantitatively determined using Rietveld refinement of neutron diffraction data taking into consideration the influence of texture formation. Finally, the martensite volume fraction as a function of plastic strain could be modelled using an shear-intersection mechanism taking into account the content of alloying elements by directly measuring the corresponding martensite-start temperature Ms of the material.
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The heat treatment process on ADI consists of austenitization, austempering and quenching to room temperature. Finally, ausferritic microstructure and nodule graphite formed in the ADI material. The parameters austempering time and temperature in the heat treatment process directly affect the morphology of ausferritic structure, which furthermore determine the mechanical properties of the material for industrial applications.
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron mi...
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