On the iron-carbon phase diagram

Experimental results that are obtained by electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and carbide analysis and indicate the precipitation of carbon atoms clusters in a hypereutectoid steel during its annealing above the eutectoid temperature are presented. These results are compared to the reported data in order to construct a new Fe-C phase diagram, where cementite forms below the eutectoid temperature due to the tendency of the Fe-C system toward ordering and carbon unbound to iron precipitates above this temperature in the form of clusters or graphite particles due to the tendency of this system toward phase separation. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2009.