See

discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/248570334

Thermal Stability of Retained Austenite in

TRIP Steel After Different Treatments
ARTICLE in JOURNAL OF IRON AND STEEL RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL JANUARY 2008
Impact Factor: 0.36 DOI: 10.1016/S1006-706X(08)60013-8

CITATIONS

DOWNLOADS

VIEWS

62

78

5 AUTHORS, INCLUDING:
Wen Shi

Bruno Charles De Cooman

Nanjing Agricultural University

Pohang University of Science and Techno

29 PUBLICATIONS 1,329 CITATIONS

257 PUBLICATIONS 2,506 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

SEE PROFILE

Patrick Wollants
University of Leuven
133 PUBLICATIONS 1,343 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE

Available from: Bruno Charles De Cooman

Retrieved on: 11 September 2015

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

--

ScienceDirect

JOURNAL OF IRON AND STEEL RESEARCH, INTERNATIONAL. 2008, 15(1): 61-64

Thermal Stability of Retained Austenite in

TRIP Steel After Different Treatments
SHI Wen',

LI Lin'

Bruno C De Cooman',

Patrick Wollants3,

YANG Chun-xia'

(1. Department of Material Science and Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200072, China;
2. Laboratory for
Iron and Steel Making, Department of Material Science and Engineering, Technologiepark 903 BE-9052, Ghent, Belgium;
3. Department M T M , KU Leuven, Heverlee B3001, Belgium)

Abstract: Thermal decomposition of retained austenite in T R I P steel was investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), The decomposition curve was abnormal, and the decomposition temperature and the activation energy were measured by the Kissinger method, which were all higher than those in quenched steel. T h e thermal
decomposition data of samples soaked in liquid nitrogen after TRIP treatment were all similar to those without additional low temperature treatment. It indicated that there is a high thermal stability in retained austenite of the TRIP
steel at low temperature, which was also proved by XRD analysis.
Key words: TRIP steel; retained austenite; thermal stability; differential scanning calorimetry

In recent decades, low carbon low alloy T R I P

plasticity ) steel received
important significance in science and technology, especially in the automobile industry"]. The high
strength and high plasticity of T R I P steel is obtained
through martensite transformation, simultaneously
induced during strain in austenite. Therefore, retained austenite is an important factor in governing
the mechanical properties of T R I P steel. During the
manufacturing process of automobile parts, the
TRIP steel may be heated or cooled and the existed
austenite may either be decomposed and the properties of steel deteriorated. T h e thermal stability of
retained austenite is thus of importance for the application of T R I P steel.
Much has been done on the study of the mechanical stability of retained austenite, but little is
concentrated on the thermal stability. This study
discusses the thermal stability of retained austenite
in T R I P steel mainly by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).
( transformation-induced

Experiment
The composition of the tested TRIP steel (mass

percent, %) is: C 0. 1 2 , Mn 1. 5 , Si 0. 7 , P 0. 05.

T h e samples are pre-processed through vacuum
melting, forging, homogenization annealing, hotrolling, cold-rolling, and the final thickness is 1
mm. T h e samples are then intercritically annealed at
800 "C for 4 min and subsequently austempered at
460 "C for 2 min in salt baths, followed by an air
quench to room temperature, that is, ordinary TRIP
treatment. Three sets of samples are prepared. One
set of the samples is only subjected to the normal
TRIP treatment-expressed as ( TRIP ) hereafter.
Another goes through the same T R I P heat treatment
but is fractured by tensile test. T h e XRD and DSC
test is taken from the position adjacent to the fracture section-expressed as (TRIP+F>. T h e other is
soaked in liquid nitrogen for 0. 5 h after TRIP treatment-expressed as (TRIP+LN).
Samples are etched in Lepera reagentc2' to observe the microstructure. T h e volume fraction of retained austenite is measured by XRD with Cu radiation. T h e volume fraction of retained austenite is determined by the direct comparison method to compare with the integrated intensity of (220), and
(211). planes.

Foundation Item: Item Sponsored by National Natural Science Foundation of China (50171038) ; Belgium-China Bilateral Project BIL 04/13
E-mail: shiwenBstaff. shu. edu. cni Revised Date: April 4 , 2006
Biography:SHI Wen(1964-), Male, Doctor, Associate Professor;

Journal of Iron and Steel Research, International

62

NETSCH DSC404C thermal analysis apparatus

is applied for DSC detection, with Pt-Rh pan, and
helium as protecting gas. DSC is calibrated by high
purity In and Zn before commencement of measurements. An empty pan is used as the reference. T h e
mass of sample is about 55 - 60 mg. Samples are
heated from 25 "C to 650 "C at a heating rate (@)
l o , 20, 30, or 40 "C/min, then cooled to 25 "C at a
rate of 40 "C/min and the same process is repeated.
The second heating curve is taken a s the baseline,
and the DSC test result is obtained through the first
heating curve minus the baseline.
T h e thermal stability activation energy (El of
retained austenite can be calculated by the peak temperature T , measured for each heating rate, using
the Kissinger formulaC3':
ln(@/T;)= -E/(RT,)+constant
where R is the gas constant (8. 314 J/mol K ) .
When ln(O/T;) is plotted as a function of 1/T,, the
slope of the straight line obtained provides a value
for the activation energy.

Results and Discussion

Microstructure and the volume fraction of retained austenite

T h e microstructure of the tested steel is shown
in Fig. 1, in which there mainly exist three phases,
i. e. , ferrite ( F ) , bainite ( B ) , and retained austenite (RA) , and a little amount of martensite might be
found.
Table 1 shows the volume fraction of retained
austenite of different samples measured by XRD.
According to Table 1, most retained austenite of
sample ( T R I P f F ) has been transformed in the tensile test, but less retained austenite of sample
(TRIP+ LN) has been transformed after cooling to
the liquid nitrogen temperature, that is to say, the

2.1

Vol. 15

Table 1 XRD and DSC measured results of different samples

RA/%

Sample
TRIP
TRIP+LN

6. 1
5.9

TRIP+ F

<1

Peak temperature/
'c

Transformation
eneravl(J
* a-'
-.
- )

497.2

16. 2

495.7

15. 5

stability of retained austenite of T R I P steel is high

enough even at low temperature.

DSC measurement of retained austenite

The DSC curves of TRIP steel after different treatments are shown in Fig. 2 (heating rate 20 "C/min).
T h e solid line in the figure represents the DSC curve
of sample (TRIP), and the dash line is that of sample (TRIP F). In Fig. 2 , there is an exothermic
peak in the solid line between 300 "C and 550 "C,
while there is no peak in the dash line for sample
(TR1Pi-F). Obviously, transformation only occurs
between 300 'C and 550 "C for undeformed sample.
This is in good agreement with Table 1, where the
retained austenite of sample ( T R I P F) has been
transformed into martensite during the tensile test
and the volume fraction of retained austenite in the
fracture section decreases greatly. There is no
change in the volume fraction for other phases,
thus, the peak in the solid line corresponds to the
thermal decomposition of retained austenite in the
sample (TRIP).
According to Fig. 2 , the thermal decomposition
temperature of retained austenite in the tested T R I P
steel is 300-550 "C , which is higher and wider than
that in the quenched carbon steels. The thermal decomposition temperature of retained austenite in quenched
steels and the iron-nickel-carbon alloy is about 250350 "C and 250-450 "C , respectivelyc4]. As pointed
2.2

I
n

/..CTRIP+LN

0.04 .

100

Fig. 1

Microstructure of test steel

Fig. 2

300
500
Temperaturel't:

DSC curve of different samples

700

Issue 1

Thermal Stability of Retained Austenite in TRIP Steel After Different Treatments

in Ref. [5] , austenite stabilizing element as nickel or

manganese can shift the phase transformation temperature toward higher temperatures, which may be
considered as a reasonable explanation of the abovestated phenomena. Another can be brought about by
carbon, also as the austenite stabilizing element, it
is enriched up to 1 . 4 % (mass percent) during the
soaking at 460 "C, and it can substantially improve
the stability,
In addition, the DSC curve of the tested steel is
abnormal and another small peak appears between
300 'C and 400 "Cas shown in Fig. 2 , which has not
been reported for quenched carbon steels. The reason is not clear, and remains to be studied.

100

63

500

300

700

Temperatwelt
Fig. 3

Low temperature stability of retained austenite

in TRIP steel
T h e dot curve in Fig. 2 shows the DSC test result of sample ( T R I P + L N ) . In the figure, an exothermic peak also appears between 300 "C and 550 "C.
The peak temperature and transformation energy of
sample (TRIP) and of sample (TRIP L N ) are
quite similar as shown in Table 1, which indicates
that most of the retained austenite are not transformed to martensite at low temperature. T h e character data of decomposition for the two kinds of
sample have no change, indicating that there exists
excellent low temperature stability of austenite in
T R I P steel.

DSC curve at different heating rates

2.3

Activation energy of retained austenite thermal

decomposition
DSC curves of sample (TRIP) heated at heating
rate of 10, 20, 30, and 40 "C/min are shown in Fig. 3 ,
and the peak temperatures of retained austenite decomposition are 482. 6 "C , 497. 2 "C , 509. 5 "C, and
516. 7 "C , respectively. T h e result of the activation
energy of sample (TRIP) calculated by the Kissinger
method is given in Fig. 4 , which is 212 kJ/mol,
higher than the decomposition activation energy of
retained austenite in quenched steel. According to
Ref. [5] : "the activation energy values obtained for
the decomposition of retained austenite are in the
range of 135- 156 kJ/mol in quenched steel, agreeing well with the values of the activation energy for
the diffusion of carbon in austenite, suggesting carbon diffusion in austenite as the rate-determining
step for the phase transformation. " T h e difference
of the decomposition activation energy in T R I P steel
measured in this study and quenched carbon steelE5'
2.4

1 280

1 260

1 300

1320

In<1
TP
Fig. 4

Determination of activation energy

using Kissinger method

indicates that there may be a different mechanism

determining the phase transformation, which needs
to be studied further.

Conclusions

(1) T h e thermal decomposition curve of retained austenite measured by DSC is abnormal and
exothermic.
(2) T h e thermal decomposition temperature of
retained austenite in the tested T R I P steel is in the
range of 300 - 550 "C , and the activation energy is
212 kJ/mol which is higher than that in quenched
carbon steel.
( 3 ) There exists excellent low temperature
stability of retained austenite in T R I P steel. T h e
thermal decomposition curve does not change after
low temperature treatment.
References :
[l]

De Cooman B C. Structureproperties Relationship in TRIP

Steels Containing Carbide-Free Bainite [J]. Current Opinion in

64

[Z]

[3]
[4]

Journal of Iron and Steel Research, International

Solid State and Materials Science, 2004, 8: 285.

Girant E, Jacques P , Harlet Ph, et al. Metallographic Methods
for Revealing the Multiphase Microstructure of TRIP-Assister
Steels [J]. Materials Characterization, 1998, 40: 111.
Kissinger Homer E. Reaction Kinetics in Differential Thermal
Analysis [J]. Analytical Chemistry, 1957, 29(11) : 1702.
Van Genderen M J , ISAC M, Bottger A. et al. Aging and

[5]

Vol. 15

Tempering Behavior of Iron-Nickel-Carbon and Iron-Carbon

Martensite [J]. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions,
1997, 28A: 545.
Morra P V , Bdttger A J , Mittemeijer E J. Decomposition of
Iron-Based Martensite: A Kinetic Analysis by Means of Different Scanning Calorimetry and Dilatometry [J]. Journal of
Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, 2001, 64: 905.