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Decomposition of Fe-Ni martensite: Implications for the low-temperature (≤500 °C) Fe-Ni phase diagram
Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A (1994)
  • Joseph Goldstein, University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Abstract

The low-temperature (<500 °C) decomposition of Fe-Ni martensite was studied by aging martensitic Fe-Ni alloys at temperatures between 300 °C and 450 °C and by measuring the composition of the matrix and precipitate phases using the analytical electron microscope (AEM). For aging treatments between 300 °C and 450 °C, lath martensite in 15 and 25 wt pct Ni alloys decomposed with γ [face-centered cubic (fcc)] precipitates forming intergranularly, and plate martensite in 30 wt pct Ni alloys decomposed with γ (fcc) precipitates forming intragranularly. The habit plane for the intragranular precipitates is {111}fcc parallel to one of the {110}bcc planes in the martensite. The compositions of the γ intergranular and intragranular precipitates lie between 48 and 58 wt pct Ni and generally increase in Ni content with decreasing aging temperature. Diffusion gradients are observed in the matrix α [body-centered cubic (bcc)] with decreasing Ni contents close to the martensite grain boundaries and matrix/precipitate boundaries. The Ni composition of the matrix α phase in decomposed martensite is significantly higher than the equilibrium value of 4 to 5 wt pct Ni, suggesting that precipitate growth in Fe-Ni martensite is partially interface reaction controlled at low temperatures (<500 °C). The results of the experimental studies modify the γ/α + γ phase boundary in the present low-temperature Fe-Ni phase diagram and establish the eutectoid reaction in the temperature range between 400 °C and 450 °C.

Publication Date
1994
Citation Information
Joseph Goldstein. "Decomposition of Fe-Ni martensite: Implications for the low-temperature (≤500 °C) Fe-Ni phase diagram" Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A Vol. 25 Iss. 8 (1994)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/joseph_goldstein/2/