Adding chemical composition variable to traditional time-temperature-transformation (TTT) diagrams with an experimental cost-effective method

Time-temperature-transformation diagrams are the most important tools for studying the phase transformations kinetics in materials science/engineering. Despite the many benefits and applications, their use has some limitations. One of the major drawbacks is that, despite spending a lot of time/cost in drawing a TTT diagram, the information can only be used for a specific chemical composition. Therefore, the purpose of this work was to take into account simultaneously the effect of composition on these diagrams using the potential of alloying elements segregation during solidification. As such, 3-dimensional time-temperature-composition-transformation (TTCT) diagrams can be used to replace the simple TTT diagrams. Using such comprehensive diagrams, it is possible to study the influence of three parameters of temperature, time and composition, simultaneously, on phase transformation kinetics and to find the most appropriate conditions for manufacturing/heat treatment of different materials. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.