Thermal stability of retained austenite with heterogeneous composition and size in austempered Fe-2Mn-1.5Si-0.4C alloy

The mechanical properties of TRIP steels depend on heterogeneities of chemical composition and grain size in the retained γ structure, although these heterogeneities have not been characterized in detail. Therefore, in this study, we quantitatively investigate the inhomogeneous carbon concentration and grain size distribution, and its effects on the thermal stability of the retained γ in Fe-2Mn-1.5Si-0.4C (mass%) TRIP steel using FE-EPMA, EBSD, Mössbauer spectroscopy, and in-situ neutron diffraction during bainitic transformation at 673 K. In-situ neutron diffraction experiments detects high-carbon γ evolving during bainite transformation, in addition to the original γ, and the time variation of the volume fraction of high-carbon γ agrees well with the fraction of γ retained at room temperature. Williamson-Hall analysis based on peak width suggests that heterogeneity of carbon content exists even within the high-carbon γ. Compositional analysis using FE-EPMA and three-dimensional atom probe directly revealed that fine filmy γ was highly enriched with carbon compared to larger blocky γ, and the carbon content in blocky γ decreases with increasing blocky γ size. DICTRA simulation qualitatively reproduces the size dependency of carbon enrichment into γ. It was also found that γ tends to be retained at higher carbon content and smaller γ grain size since the smaller grain size directly improves thermal stability and the smaller γ size further contributes to the thermal stability via enhanced carbon enrichment.