An On-Heating Dilation Conversional Model for Austenite Formation in Hypoeutectoid Steels

Dilatometry is often used to study solid-state phase transformations. While most steel transformation studies focus on the decomposition of austenite, this article presents an on-heating dilation conversional model to determine phase fraction based on measured volume changes during the formation of austenite in ferrite-pearlite hypoeutectoid steels. The effect of alloying elements on the transformation strain is incorporated into the model. Comparison of the conversional model predictions to measured transformation temperature (A(c3)) shows excellent agreement. The pearlite decomposition finish temperature (A(pf)) predicted by the conversional model more closely matches experimental results when compared to standard lever rule calculations. Results show that including the effects of substitutional alloying elements (in addition to carbon) improves phase fraction predictions. The conversional model can be used to quantitatively predict intercritical austenite fraction with application to modeling, induction heating, intercritical annealing, and more complex heat treatments for hypoeutectoid steels.