Grain growth and Hall–Petch relation in dual-sized ferrite/cementite steel with nano-sized cementite particles in a heterogeneous and dense distribution

Characteristic grain growth occurred coincident with the Ostwald ripening of cementite particles upon annealing in a submicron-grained ferrite/cementite steel. The predictive capability of the Hall–Petch relation between the hardness and average ferrite size was demonstrated, independent of the distribution and size of cementite particles.