Mechanism on the Effect of Al upon the γ→ε Martensite Transformation in the Fe-Mn Alloys

The structure of the solid solution treated and deformed Fe-25Mn-(0-3.11)Al-0.15C alloys was examined by means of metallograph and X-ray diffraction, which has confirmed that Al restrains the γ→ε transformation in the Fe-Mn alloys. The mechanism on the restraining effect of Al has been discussed on the basis of the efFect of Al upon the stacking fault energy in the Fe-Mn alloys.Aluminium increases thermodynamically the stability of the Fe-Mn austenite and the driving force limit necessitated to be overcome for the γ→ε transformation, because the thermodynamicalcalculation indicates that Al increases the stacking fault energy in the Fe-Mn alloys at 300 K.Al will decrease the number and the size for the ε-martensite nucleus according to the stacking fault mechanism of the ε-martensite nucleation