Mechanism Of Martensite Formation - Summary

THE crystallographic mechanism for the austenite-to-martensite transformation has been deduced from the results of the following new experimental determinations: (I) the accurate evaluation of the lattice relationship between austenite and individual crystals of martensite-and thus the relationship between the martensite lattice and the martensite plate, and (2) the measurement and analysis of the change in positions that a volume of austenite undergoes when it transforms into a crystal of martensite. For the latter study, a new tool was developed, the stereographic analysis of shear. Lattice relationship.-Thirty-five separate 50-gram melts of an alloy containing about 22 per cent nickel and 0.8 per cent carbon were prepared in a high-vacuum furnace. This alloy is all-austenite at room temperature; grain size was about I cm. Specimens of the alloy were cooled to about -70°C. to form a few martensite crystals, and suitable specimens were ground and polished on a surface parallel to a single martensite plate, exposing the martensite crystal for an area of I mm. or more. Four martensite cystals from four different ingots were prepared in this manner; the largest crystal of this group is illustrated in Fig. I. Back-reflection Lane patterns were obtained from martensite [ ] crystals (and the matrix austenite) both before and after tempering. The locations of the basal-plane pole of martensite was checked by means of oscillating crystal X-ray patterns. All four crystals studied yielded the same solution (±0.5°), and these relationships are expressed in gnomonic projection in Fig. 3.* The narrow dark-etching bands often visible in martensite "needles" were found to be parallel to {112} and thus are undoubtedly twin bands in the martensite crystal.