TRANSFORMATION OF RETAINED AUSTENITE IN CARBURIZED CASE DURING FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH

The morphology of the retained austenite in the carburized case of 20CrNiMo steel and itstransformation during fatigue crack propagation through the case were investigated by usingX-ray and TEM analysis.In the carburized case both film and block shaped retainedaustenite were found.Due to the crystallographic orientation relationship at the interface,thefatigue crack is inclined to pass through the block shaped retained austenite and thereby stim-ulates its strain-induced martensitie transformation.During the process of the fatigue frac-ture,most of the retained austenite structures on the crack path are transformed into themartensite,and the untranaformed parts on the fracture surface remain less than 6%.Thetransformation of the retained austenite,which is restrieted mainly within the plastic zone,oc-curs only during the proeess of fracture,and is independent of the magnitudes of the externalstress,stress ratio and cyclic number.The volume expansion accompanying the transforma-tion creates an additional residual displacement of about 0.44μm on fracture surfaces,whichis equivalent to the magnitude of the plasticity-induced residual displacement.The phasetransformation induced fatigue crack closure is believed to be an important factor affectingthe fatigue crack behaviors in the high carbon laver of the carburized case.