Effects of alloying elements on martensitic transformation behavior and damping capacity in Fe-17Mn alloy

Effect of carbon and Ti on gamma<->epsilon martensitic transformation behavior and damping capacity has been investigated in an Fe-17Mn alloy. The suppressive force of carbon against gamma-->epsilon transformation increases linearly with an increase in carbon content, lowering M-s temperature and volume fraction of epsilon martensite. Carbon deteriorates damping capacity by reducing the area of gamma/epsilon interfaces and by decreasing the mobility of the interfaces operated as damping source. The reduction in the mobility of the interfaces is accelerated when carbon-containing alloy is aged at high temperatures. The effect of Ti on the damping capacity is found to be beneficial in carbon-containing alloy, because the Ti contributes to depletion of carbon solute by the formation of TiC.