Twin structure of the lath martensite in low carbon steel

It has been well accepted that the martensites in quenched carbon steels exhibit two typical morphologies which are closely dependent on the carbon content, i.e. lath martensite in low carbon steels and lenticular martensite in high carbon steels. Based on conventional belief, the lath martensites in low carbon steels are with high density dislocations as the substructure, in contrast to twin substructure in lenticular high carbon martensite. In the present work, an intensive transmission electron microscopy investigation was made to characterize the microstructures of the lath martensite in a low carbon steel of 0.2 wt%C. It was found that lots of lath martensites consist of twin as their substructure, rather than high density dislocations. In addition, nanoscale precipitates cohering with ferrite matrix were found at the twin interfaces. The orientation relationships between the precipitates and the ferrite matrix are in good agreement with that of primitive hexagonal ω phase in titanium alloys and other bcc metals or alloys.