Critical assessment of bainite models for advanced high strength steels

Bainite is an essential constituent in the microstructure of many advanced high strength steels, e.g. ferrite-bainite dual-phase, transformation induced-plasticity (TRIP) and complex phase (CP) steels. A complex thermo-mechanical processing is employed in industry such that following ferrite formation a desired fraction of bainite can be obtained during austenite decomposition. In order to evaluate robust processing routes it would be very useful to have a bainite transformation model with predictive capabilities. In this work a transformation start criterion for bainite is proposed by defining a critical driving pressure concept. Subsequent bainite formation kinetics from a mixture of ferrite-austenite is described using phenomenological modelling methodologies. In particular, the predictive capabilities of two approaches will be critically discussed, i.e. (i) the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov (JMAK) model in conjunction with Rios treatment of the additivity rule and (ii) a nucleation-growth based model that describes simultaneous formation of bainitic ferrite and carbides. Using experimental transformation data for TRIP and CP steels, status and limitations of these models will be delineated.