Substructures of martensite in Fe–1C–17Cr stainless steel

Received 17 December 2009; received in revised form 12 January 2010; accepted 12 January 2010. published online 15 January 2010.

An Fe–1.0C–17Cr (wt.%) stainless steel was subjected to subzero treatment to investigate the structure of the martensite midrib. During the course of the isothermal holding in liquid nitrogen (−196°C), the thin-plate martensite formed first, and lenticular martensite later. The substructures of thin-plate martensites and lenticular martensite were examined using transmission electron microscopy, focusing on the details of the midrib. The results provide strong evidence to suggest that thin-plate martensite can be transformed into lenticular martensite.

Keywords: Stainless steel, Martensitic phase transformation, Martensite midrib, Twinning, TEM

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC

Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 2 23632756; fax: +886 2 23634562.

PII: S1359-6462(10)00023-0

doi:10.1016/j.scriptamat.2010.01.022

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