ISOTHERMAL MARTENSITIC-TRANSFORMATION AS AN INTERNAL STRESS-INCREASING PROCESS

Based on the results that the magnitude of the stabilization of retain ed austenite increases with increasing the amount of martensite transf ormed, it has been assumed that the martensitic transformation is acco mpanied with an increase in internal resisting stress which subsequent ly results in the stabilization of retained austenite. By simplifying this internal resisting stress to be a type of hydrostatic compressive stress acting on retained austenite due to surrounding martensite pla tes, a thermodynamical analysis for an isothermal martensitic transfor mation under applied hydrostatic pressure has been performed. The calc ulated results, to some extent, show a good agreement with the experim ental data.