Effects of Austenitization Temperature and Compressive Stress During Bainitic Transformation on the Stability of Retained Austenite

摘要

Abstract The effects of stress and austenitization temperature on the carbon content and morphology of retained austenite (RA) have been investigated. The stability of RA has been analyzed. An interesting finding is that the increase in the amount of bainite is not accompanied by the increase in the carbon content in RA under the effect of stress. This does not match with what is expected from the bainitic transformation theory. The amount of bainitic transformation and stress both affect the carbon content in RA. In addition, the stress during bainitic transformation helps to increase the stability of RA by decreasing the amount of blocky RA, whereas it has little effect on the carbon content in RA. Moreover, the increase in austenitization temperature is beneficial to increasing the stability of RA, whereas it has no significant effect on the morphology of RA.