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N and C Interstitial Diffusion and Thermodynamic Interactions in \(\varepsilon \)-Iron Carbonitride

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Abstract

The simultaneous diffusion of N and C over the interstitial sites of the Fe-sublattice of \(\varepsilon \)-iron carbonitride was studied. To this end, gas nitrocarburizing experiments of pure Fe and Fe-C alloys were performed at 853 K (580 °C), leading to two different types of microstructures containing \(\varepsilon \) (sub)layers. These microstructures were investigated by light microscopy, electron probe microanalysis, and X-ray diffraction in order to evaluate the components of the (N and C) diffusivity matrix. The off-diagonal components of the diffusivity matrix were shown to have significant, non-negligible values. These results provided insight into the thermodynamics of the Fe-N-C system.

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Notes

  1. Diffusion paths indicate the change of (laterally averaged) composition and constitution in a diffusion couple at constant temperature and pressure. Often, they are drawn by superposition on an isothermal section of the phase diagram of the considered system.[17,37–39]

  2. The authors are aware that a C correction on the basis of mass fractions or X-ray counts would in principle be a better approach. For the concentration range considered here, however, the difference is marginal.

  3. The fluxes listed in Table VIII were calculated with the assumption of zero flux of C from the substrate in the direction of the surface. This is justified since both recent models for the system Fe-N-C[21,22] predict a higher chemical potential of C in the \(\varepsilon _2\) layer than in the \(\alpha \)+\(\theta \) substrate.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Mrs S. Haug from the Stuttgart Center for Electron Microscopy (Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems) for her help with performing the EPMA analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (formerly Max Planck Institute for Metals Research), Heisenbergstraße 3, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany

    Holger Göhring, Andreas Leineweber & Eric Jan Mittemeijer

  2. Institute for Materials Science, University of Stuttgart, Heisenbergstraße 3, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany

    Eric Jan Mittemeijer

  3. Institute for Materials Science, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Gustav-Zeuner-Straße 5, 09599, Freiberg, Germany

    Andreas Leineweber

Authors
  1. Holger Göhring
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Correspondence to Holger Göhring.

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Manuscript submitted December 8, 2014.

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Göhring, H., Leineweber, A. & Mittemeijer, E.J. N and C Interstitial Diffusion and Thermodynamic Interactions in \(\varepsilon \)-Iron Carbonitride. Metall Mater Trans A 46, 3612–3626 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-015-2982-5

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