A NEW MORPHOLOGICAL VARIANT OF BAINITE

A morphological variant of bainite unlike any other previously reporte d variant was observed. The new phase showed equiaxed grains often wit h internal radial lines. Isothermal transformation kinetics were measu red and the transformation rates were observed to be very high for the initial 80% of the reaction. Transformation was accompanied by consid erable recalescence and the recalescence increased with decreasing tem perature. An activation energy analysis was performed using the measur ed isothermal transformation kinetics and an average activation energy of 42 kJ mol(-1) was calculated. With the aid of a SEM and a STEM the new phase was characterized to be bainitic.