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In situ analysis of the effect of high heating rates and initial microstructure on the formation and homogeneity of austenite

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Abstract

Decreasing processing time of a quench and temper heat treatment is of high interest for industry due to the possibility of cost reduction. One option to reduce processing time is to shorten the austenitizing cycle by applying high heating rates and minimum holding times. However, due to the high heating rates, the analysis of their influences on the formation kinetics of austenite and its crystallographic parameters is challenging. Thus, this work concentrates on the in situ analysis of the austenitization process by means of high-energy X-ray diffraction to study a range of heating rates applied to ferritic–pearlitic and soft annealed initial microstructures. The transformation kinetics from ferrite/pearlite and soft annealed state to austenite, the cementite dissolution behavior and the homogeneity of the freshly formed austenite were analyzed. The results indicate three distinct steps of austenite formation independent of initial microstructure and heating rate: (1) nucleation of carbon-rich austenite at cementite–ferrite interfaces, (2) growth of austenite phase fraction accompanied by a reduction of the carbon content, until reaching the mean carbon content of the steel, followed by growth of the austenite grain size, (3) regarding austenite homogeneity, the combination of austenitization temperature and initial microstructure are the main influencing factors.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support under the scope of the COMET program within the K2 Center “Integrated Computational Material, Process and Product Engineering (IC-MPPE)” (Project No. 859480). This program is supported by the Austrian Federal Ministries for Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) and for Digital and Economic Affairs (BMDW), represented by the Austrian research funding association (FFG), and the federal states of Styria, Upper Austria and Tyrol.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials Center Leoben Forschung GmbH, Roseggerstrasse 12, 8700, Leoben, Austria

    Annika Eggbauer, Marina Lukas, Gerald Ressel, Petri Prevedel & Reinhold Ebner

  2. Department of Physical Metallurgy and Materials Testing, Montanuniversität Leoben, Franz Josef Strasse 18, 8700, Leoben, Austria

    Francisca Mendez-Martin

  3. Department of Materials Physics, Montanuniversität Leoben, Franz Josef Strasse 18, 8700, Leoben, Austria

    Jozef Keckes

  4. Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science, Jahnstrasse 12, 8700, Leoben, Austria

    Jozef Keckes

  5. Institute of Materials Research, Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht, Max Planck Straße 1, 21502, Geesthacht, Germany

    Andreas Stark

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  1. Annika Eggbauer
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  2. Marina Lukas
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  3. Gerald Ressel
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  8. Reinhold Ebner
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Correspondence to Annika Eggbauer.

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Eggbauer, A., Lukas, M., Ressel, G. et al. In situ analysis of the effect of high heating rates and initial microstructure on the formation and homogeneity of austenite. J Mater Sci 54, 9197–9212 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-019-03527-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-019-03527-3

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