The Effect of Interfacial Element Partitioning on Ferrite and Bainite Formation

The formation of bainitic ferrite and that of grain boundary ferrite in low alloy steels have been two of the most important and interesting research topics in the field of solid state ferrous phase transformation for several decades, and various aspects of these two transformations have been discussed extensively in the literature. Recently, a so-called Gibbs energy balance (GEB) model was proposed by the authors to evaluate alloying element effects on the growth of bainitic ferrite and grain boundary ferrite. The model predicts a growth mode transition from paraequilibrium, negligible partitioning to partitioning during the isothermal formation of bainitic ferrite and grain boundary ferrite. Transformation stasis and bay phenomenon are well explained by the GEB model and both of them are found to be due to alloying element diffusion at the interface. This overview gives a summary of the authors' recent progress in the understanding of the growth of bainitic ferrite and grain boundary ferrite, with particular focus on the growth mode transition, the transformation stasis phenomenon and the bay phenomenon.