Experimental and Modelling Research on the Effect of Prior Ferrite on Bainitic Transformation in Medium-Carbon Bainitic Steel

In this study, we investigate the impact of prior ferrite on the bainite transformation kinetics and microstructure of medium-carbon steel interrupted by an intercritical annealing (IAA) process. It was found that the incubation time and completion time decreased from 687 s and 6018 s to 20 s and 4680 s, with the volume fraction of ferrite increasing from 9.5% to 28.6%, while the maximum transformation rate increased from 00271 μm/s to 0.0436 μm/s. The ferrite/austenite interface is introduced, and the nucleation sites are increased to accelerate the subsequent bainite transformation due to the formation of prior ferrite. However, there is a competitive relationship between the number and activation energy of bainite nucleation. According to the experimental results and theoretical calculations, the activation energy of the bainite transformation in the medium-carbon bainite steel decreases gradually with an increase in the volume fraction of prior ferrite.