CHARACTER OF CARBON-DEPLETED REGIONS IN UNDERCOOLED AUSTENITE AND THERMODYANMICS OF BAINITIC TRANSFORMATION

The chemical driving forces for the phase transformation from austenite in three different car- bon-depleted regions into ferrite with the identical composition have been derived respectively. The starting temperature of bainitic transformation,B_s,has also been calculated according to the shearing mechanism of bainitic transformation in carbon-depleted regions of austenite. The maximum driving forces for banitic transformation at B_s in both 3% Cr and the CrMo steels were obtained.It was shown that the proposed shearing mechanism of the bainitic trans- formation is thermodynamically possible.