The effect of austenite grain size on the growth of different ferrite morphologies in a Nb- microalloyed steel

The effect of austenite grain size on the austenite to ferrite transformation temperature and different ferrite morphologies and growth behaviour in one Nb-microalloyed (HSLA) steel has been investigated. Three different austenite grain sizes were selected and cooled for obtaining austenite to ferrite and growth behaviour of ferrite. Moreover, samples with specific austenite grain size have been quenched, partially, for investigation of the microstructural evolution. The optical microscopy observation suggested that the nucleation site of ferrite is on edge and inside of austenite grains in Nb- microalloyed steels. Micrographs of different ferrite morphologies show that at high temperatures, where diffusion rates are higher, grain boundary ferrite nucleates both at the edge and corner of austenite grains and grows into both austenite grains. As the temperature is lowered and the driving force for ferrite formation increases, intragranular sites inside the austenite grains become operative as nucleation sites and suppress the grain boundary ferrite growth. With more undercooling,intragranular ferrites are seen to nucleate and grow more extensively, indicating the beginning of displacive transformation. Furthermore, growth rate of intragranular ferrite shows that by increasing of austenite grain size, the growth rate of intragranular ferrite increases extensively and growth rate of grain boundary ferrite decreases. The growth kinetics of grain boundary ferrite shows that this transformation is controlled by the diffusion of carbon in the austenite ahead of the interface.