Abstract
The objective of the present work is to investigate the microstructure evolution in Fe-12 Mn-13 Al-4.8 Ni-0.8 C wt.% steel after two-phase heat treatment, followed by different cooling regimes. The alloy was homogenized at 1200 ℃ for 3 h followed by forging and water quenching to room temperature. Thereafter it was heat-treated in a two-phase region and cooled to room temperature through different cooling modes viz. water quenching (WQ), air cooling (AC) and furnace cooling (FC). The microstructure of the heat-treated and cooled samples was investigated through optical microscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD). The WQ sample was found to have a duplex microstructure consisting primarily of δ-ferrite and austenite, however, a minor α-ferrite (fine grain) phase was also detected inside austenite. In the AC sample, a small amount of α-ferrite and intragranular k-carbide was formed, along with δ-ferrite and austenite as the major phases. The α-ferrite formed within austenite in the WQ and AC samples was found to nucleate and grow at austenite twin boundaries and triple junctions. While in the FC sample, a significant amount of α-ferrite and k-carbide was found to form due to the decomposition of austenite. Interestingly two types of k-carbide viz. modulated intragranular type and lamellar type were found to form in the FC sample.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to in-house project support group (i-PSG), CSIR- National Metallurgical Laboratory, for providing the funding and the equipment support to carry out the work. The authors wish to thank The Director, CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML) for his kind permission to publish this work.
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Sahoo, B.K., Sadhu, S., Chandan, A.K., Bansal, G.K., Srivastava, V.C., Chowdhury, S.G. (2022). Microstructure Evolution in Medium Mn, High Al Low-Density Steel During Different Continuous Cooling Regimes. In: Kumari, R., Majumdar, J.D., Behera, A. (eds) Recent Advances in Manufacturing Processes. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3686-8_7
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