Crystallography of ausformed upper bainite structure in Fe–9Ni–C alloys

The effect of ausforming on formation of upper bainite structure was investigated in Fe–9Ni–(0.15–0.5)C (mass%) alloys, focusing on the crystallographic feature of bainitic ferrite. The specimens were ausformed at 1073 or 873 K by 50% compressive reduction after austenitizing, and transformed at 623 K. Lath-shaped upper bainite structures similar to lath martensite are formed at 623 K. A bainite packet is partitioned into blocks of all the six variants of the K–S orientation relationship satisfying the same parallel close-packed plane relationship. In both of the non-ausformed and ausformed specimens, bainite blocks are coarsened with increasing carbon content. In the Fe–9Ni–0.15C alloy, the effect of ausforming on the bainite block width is small. For higher carbon alloys (Fe–9Ni–0.3C and 0.5C), bainite blocks are remarkably coarsened by the ausforming. In contrast, the ausforming refines lath martensite blocks in the Fe–9Ni–0.15C alloy but has a small effect in higher carbon alloys.