Steels for bearings

Light and electron microscopy have been used to determine the main structural differences between the two major types of martensite in ferrous alloys. In the martensite that forms in dilute alloys of iron, the basic transformation unit takes the shape of a lath, and hence the term lath martensite is appropriate for identifying this morphology. Each lath is the result of a homogeneous shear, and successive shears produce a packet of parallel laths containing a high density of tangled dislocations. The other type, plate martensite, differs in the shape taken by a transformation unit and its transformation sequence is characterized by nonparallel plate formation. Investigation of a large number of binary ferrous systems shows that alloy composition and the transformation temperature influence the transition from lath to plate martensite. These two factors are discussed in terms of their possible effects on the plastic deformation mechanisms which must occur in the parent austenite and product martensite during transformation.

The morphology of martensite in iron alloys

A carburized coarse-grained AISI 8620 steel was subjected to three postcarburization heat treatments: a) direct oil quench from the carburizing temperature (1700°F), b) direct oil quench, reheat to 1550°F and oil quench, and c) slow cool, reheat to 1550°F and oil quench, reheat to 1450°F and oil quench. The latter two treatments refined the austenitic grain size over that resulting from the direct quench and caused a reduction in the size of the marten-site plates and of the number and/or size of the microcracks within the plates. The refine-ment of the microstructure and the reduction of the number of microcracks resulted in greatly improved fatigue resistance,i.e., from fatigue limits of 140 to 250 ksi maximum cyclic stress for the direct quench and double reheat conditions, respectively. Subcritical crack growth was transgranular, but the mode of unstable crack propagation was mixed transgranular and intergranular in the direct quench and single reheat specimens. Obser -vations of microcrack coalescence and fracture surface features suggest that microcracks are instrumental in the transgranular mode of failure.

Microcracking and fatigue in a carburized steel

An AES study of temper embrittlement in a low alloy steel

By employing a combination of fractography and Auger analysis on samples of alloy steel fractured at 77 K, it is demonstrated that phosphorus can segregate to prior-austenite grain boundaries during the austenitization cycle. Segregation is more pronounced at low austenitizing temperatures in Ni–Cr steel and the addition of 0·6%Mn to the steel increases the degree of segregation at all austenitizing temperatures. The consequences of phosphorus segregation with respect to quench cracking and 350°C embrittlement are discussed briefly.

Phosphorus segregation in austenite in Ni–Cr and Ni–Cr–Mn steels

Metallographic analysis was used to study the effect of carbon content, grain size, quench rate, and retained austenite on microcracking in Fe-C martensites. It was found that microcracking is directly related to an increase in the carbon content of the martensite and that there exists a carbon content which corresponds to both the onset of microcracking and the formation of plate martensite. Retained austenite indirectly affects microcracking in that more complete transformation yields more martensite and consequently more microcracking. Grain size changes from 100 to 1200 μ, introduced by varying the austenitizing temperature from 1800° to 2400°F and varying the time at 2000°F for 15 hr, did not affect microcracking or the amount of retained austenite. Finally, the investigation emphasizes that microcracking is a manifestation of the impingement of martensite plates and is not a function of the stress state introduced by the quenching medium.

A. O. Benscoter

Papers

Microcracking sensitivity in Fe-C plate martensite