FOREIGN

TECHNOLOGY

E F F E C T OF C A R B O N ON T H E P H A S E C O M P O S I T I O N
OF H I G H - M A N G A N E S E

STEELS*

Translated from Metallovedenie i Termicheskaya Obrabotka Metallov, No. 7,

p. 43, July, 1963

This paper concerns an investigation of the phase composition

of high-manganese steels containing 12% Mn and 0.04-1.2% C.

0
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The samples were heated at 1100~ for 30 rain and quenched

in water; some of the samples were then subjected to slight plastic
deformation.

60

The phase composition was studied by the change in hardness, by dilatometric analysis (transformations occurring as the result of heating recorded with a dilatometer), and by changes in magnetic properties and the microstructure.

gO

I
3
0

--

00
ca.

b)

20

T-

Phase diagrams were drawn. These diagrams show the phase

ratios as a function of the carbon content in steels with 12%
Mn: a) in the quenched state; b) in the deformed state.
The structure of the quenched steel containing 0.5% C and
12% Mn is purely austenitic. At lower carbon concentrations the
steel contains not only the g-phase but also the a - and s-phases.
The lower the carbon content the larger the amount of c~-phase of
martensitic origin; its amount reaches ahout 70% when the carbon
concentration is 0.04%. The s-phase, of martensitic origin, aswell
as the intermediate phase, is formed as the result of the ), ~ a transformation; the s-phase has a close-packed hexagonal lattice.

The amount of s - p h a s e depends on the carbon content.

Quenched steel containing 12% Mn and 0.2% C contains the greatest amount of s-phase, plastic deformation'leads
to the formation of c~-phase in alloys in which the carbon content is at least 0.7%.
In alloys containing 0-0.05%C plastic deformation increases the amount of c~-phase; in alloys containing 0.50.7% C plastic deformation leads to the formation of a small amount of c~-martensite, which is formed from austenire. In steels containing over 0.7%C (Hadfield steel) plastic deformation does not result in the formation of c~-martensite (see phase diagrams a, b). In steels containing 0.7-1.0% C plastic deformation leads to the formation of a
small amount of s-martensite. In steels with a lower carbon concentration plastic deformation leads to the formation of a small amount of c~-martensite. In quenched steels with lower carbon concentrations, which contain s - and
c~-martensite, plastic deformation decreases the amount of the s-phase.
In other words, plastic deformation induces the ~ ~ r
c~ transformation. If the steel contains the s - and c~phases then the second step of the transformation develops and the amount of the s-phase decreases. If the initial
structure of the steel consists of ),-phase alone then plastic deformation leads only to the first step of the transformation, and the s-phase is formed.

* Imai Iunoshin, Toshio Sato, Journal Japan Institute of Metals, No. 5 (1962).
This section is taken from the publication ~Express-Information.-

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