Institute of Metals Division - Anomalous Kinetics of the Bainitic Transformation Just Above the Martensitic Range (TN)

BELOW the nose of the bainitic C curves in isothermal transformation diagrams, the rate of the austenite-to-bainite transformation usually decreases with decreasing temperature. However, in some steels and iron-carbon alloys, there is a noticeable acceleration in the initial reaction rate at temperatures just above Ms. Such speeding-up of the bainitic transformation would be understandable at temperatures just below Ms because of the catalytic effect of the martensite formed,' but the reversal in isothermal kinetics just above Ms seems quite anomalous. This behavior was observed by Howard and Cohen' in a 1.35 pct C steel and, on the basis of metallo-graphic examination, it was attributed to the formation of a thin plate-like product not belonging in the bainitic sequence. More recently, schaaber2 found two-stage reactions occurring in the vicinity of Ms in a number of steels, and suggested that the first stage might be the isothermal formation of marten-site, preceding the isothermal formation of bainite in the second stage. A decrease in the bainitic incu-