High Magnetic Field Influence on the Widmanstätten Transformation in High Purity Fe-0.36 wt% C Alloy

The influence of high magnetic field with different strength on the proeutectoid ferrite transformation in high purity Fe-0.36 wt% C during diffusional γ→α phase transformation was studied. It was found that the formation of acicular ferrite (i.e. Widmanstätten ferrite) was obviously suppressed by the applied high magnetic field. The stronger the magnetic field is, the more the ferrite grains elongating and aligning along the field direction will be. This is attributed to additional driving force for phase transformation and demagnetization effect introduced by the applied magnetic field. This is also considered to be related to the preferential growth of proeutectoid ferrite nuclei along field direction caused by magnetic dipolar interaction.