Effects of ausforming temperature on bainite transformation, microstructure and variant selection in nanobainite steel

The bainite transformation behavior after plastic deformation of austenite, i.e., ausforming was studied by in situ neutron diffraction and ex situ experiments, and the effects of ausforming temperature was made clear. Ausforming, at a low temperature (573 K) was found to accelerate bainite transformation and produce a characteristic microstructure, whereas at a high temperature (873 K), ausforming had little influence. The reason for the different results stems from the dislocation structure introduced in austenite; planar dislocations remaining on the active slip planes are believed to assist bainite transformation, accompanied by strong variant selection. The variant selection rule that focuses on Shockley partial dislocation was verified from electron backscatter diffraction results.