Effects of a high magnetic field on austenite decomposition in high purity Fe-1.1C (wt.%) alloy

The effects of the 12T magnetic field on transformed morphology and crystallographic characteristics of high purity Fe-1.1C (wt.%) alloy during diffusional decomposition of austenite are studied by SEM/EBSD. With the applied field, the lamellar spacing of pearlite is greatly enlarged and the spheroidization tendency of the pearlitic cementite is enhanced. This can be attributed to the thermodynamic effect of the field on phase equilibrium by elevating the eutectoid temperature; hence the eutectoid transformation happens at higher temperature that favors carbon diffusion. As a consequence, the eutectoid cementite that is usually in lamellar shape spheroidizes to reduce its specific surface area. In addition, three orientation relationships between ferrite and cementite in pearlite, namely Isaichev ORs and two near Pitsch-Petch ORs (P-P1 and P-P2), are found both in non-field and field treated specimens. The magnetic field favors the occurrence of P-P2 OR due to the promotion of nucleation of the pearlitic ferrite. However, there is no obvious effect of the field on the crystallographic orientation of pearlitic ferrite, and that is probably related to the quick saturation of magnetization that results in the disappearance of magnetization anisotropy.