Elastic properties of face-centred cubic Fe–Mn–C studied by nanoindentation and ab initio calculations

We have studied experimentally and theoretically the influence of C and Mn content on the Young’s modulus of Fe–Mn–C alloys. Combinatorial thin film and bulk samples were characterized regarding their structure, texture and Young’s modulus. The following chemical composition range was investigated: 1.5–3.0 at.% C, 28.0–37.5 at.% Mn and 60.6–69.8 at.% Fe. The experimental lattice parameters change marginally within 3.597–3.614 Å with the addition of C and are consistent with ab initio calculations. The Young’s modulus data are in the range of 185 ± 12–251 ± 59 GPa for the bulk samples and the thin film, respectively. C has no significant effect on the Young’s modulus of these alloys within the composition range studied here. The ab initio calculations are 15–22% larger than the average Young’s modulus values of the as-deposited and polished thin film at 3 at.% C. The comparison of thin film and bulk samples results reveals similar elastic properties for equivalent compositions, indicating that the applied research strategy consisting of the combinatorial thin film approach in conjunction with ab initio calculations is useful to study the composition dependence of the structure and elastic properties of Fe–Mn–C alloys. The very good agreement between the presented calculations and the experimentally determined lattice parameters and Young’s modulus values implies that the here-adopted simulation strategy yields a reliable description of carbon in Fe–Mn alloys, important for future alloy design.