Institute of Metals Division - Plastic Deformation Modes in Fe-Ni-C Martensites

Coarse-grained Fe-Ni-C martensites formed at subzero temperatures were strained in compression at room temperature and the plastic deformation modes examined as a funclion of carbon content. At very low carbon levels, defovmation occurs hy wavy slip; commencing at about 0.05 pct C, mechanical twinning accounts for an increasing proportion of the plastic flow. Beyond approximately 0.4 pct C the deformation appears to be entirely by mechanical twinning. The habit planes of the operative twin modes were determined to be (113), (0131, and "(089)" in decreasing frequency of occurrence. Some of the implicaticms of Ihe o6served deformation modes upon the structure and properties of ferrous martensites are discussed. METALLURGISTS have long sought to explain the mechanical properties of ferrous martensites, particularly the extraordinary hardness and strength of the high-carbon varieties. Until recently the lack of precise knowledge of the structure of martensite crystals was the most serious barrier to understanding; however, the advent of thin-foil techniques for transmission electron microscopy has removed much of the mystery from martensite structure. Observations by Kelly and Nutting,"' and many others since, indicate that Fe-C based martensite crystals are internally twinned to a degree dependent upon the carbon content, and that a martensite plate containing 0.8 wt pct C or more consists of a stack of twin-related lamellae with each lamella on the order of l00A thick. Such a structure would be expected to influence greatly all aspects of metallurgical behavior, and many of the properties of Fe-C based martensites have been rationalized accordingly. Recent independent experiments led Winchell and cohen3 to conclude that the strength of ferrous martensite is derived primarily from solid solution hardening of the iron lattice by interstitial carbon atoms. Strength contributions from precipitation, dislocation-atmosphere interactions, clustering, short-range order, crystallite size, and so forth, were considered to be of secondary importance. In the view of Winchell and Cohen, the twinned structure of martensite serves mainly to limit the effective length of dislocation lines in the lattice, and thereby confers an added measure of hardening. Few properties of metallic crystals are as sensitive to metallurgical structure as are deformation mechanisms. It is somewhat surprising therefore, that, except for metallographic evidence of mechanical twins in strained martensite,4 no systematic examination of plastic deformation