Martensite
Martensite
Martensite
Martensite
artensite is our friend, so sayeth the heat treater,
but what is martensite, really? And why is a tempered martensitic structure the single-minded
goal of every heat treater when hardening steel?
Lets learn more.
Martensite Formation
In order to form martensite we need to heat steel into the austenite eld (above Ac3) and quench rapidly
enough from the austenite phase to avoid
pearlite formation. The rate must be fast
enough to avoid the nose of the Time-Temperature-Transformation (TTT) curve the
so-called critical cooling rate for the given
steel. The formation of martensite involves
the structural rearrangement (by shear displacement) of the atoms from face-centered
cubic (FCC) austenite into a body-centered
tetragonal (BCT) martensitic structure. This change is accompanied by a large increase in volume and results in a highly stressed
condition. This is why martensite has a higher hardness than austenite for the exact same chemistry.
The martensite transformation, while not instantaneous, is signicantly faster than diffusion-controlled processes such as ferrite
and pearlite formation that have different chemical compositions
than the austenite from which they came. Thus, martensite is a
meta-stable, strain-induced state that steel nds itself in. The resultant steel hardness is (primarily) a function of its carbon content (Fig. 1).
Hardness, DPH
700
Martensite Morphology
Morphology is a term used by metallurgists to describe the study
of the shape, size, texture and phase distribution of physical objects. Martensite can be observed in the microstructure of steel in
two distinctly different forms lath or plate depending on the
carbon content of the steel (Fig. 2). In general, lath martensite
is associated with high toughness and ductility but low strength,
while plate martensite structures are much higher in strength but
tend to be more brittle and non-ductile.[2]
For alloys containing less than approximately 0.60 wt.% carbon, lath martensite appears as long, thin plates often grouped in
packets (Fig. 3). Plate (or lenticular) martensite is found in alloys
containing greater than approximately 0.60 wt.% carbon. The microstructure is needle-like or plate-like in appearance across the
complete austenite grain (Fig. 4). With carbon contents between
0.60 and 1.00 wt.% carbon, the martensite present is a mixture of
60
600
50
500
400
300
200
Marder (27)
Hodge and Orehoski (28)
Burns et al. (29)
Irvine et al. (30)
Kelly and Nutting (31)
Kurjumov (32)
Litwinchuk et al. (33)
Bain and Paxton (34)
Jaffe and Gordon (35)
Materkowski (36)
40
30
20
10
0
100
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3
Carbon, wt %
Hardness, Rockwell C
rial H
TH
Greninger (8)
Toriano and Greninger (10)
Cohen et al (24)
Digges (25)
Greninger and Troiano (26)
Kaufman and Cohen (27)
Esser et al (28)
Bibby and Parr (29)
1400
Ms Temperature, F
1200
1000
800
871
760
Alloy system
649
FCC to HCP
Fe-Ni
FCC to BCC
538
427
600
316
400
204
200
93
Mixed
Lath
Plate
0
0
0.2
0.4
Temperature, C
1600
0.6
0.8
1.0
Carbon, wt %
1.2
1.4
0
1.6
Tempered Martensite
All steels containing martensite should be tempered. As heat
treaters, we need to know that martensite in steel produces a hard,
brittle microstructure that must be tempered to provide the delicate balance necessary between strength and toughness needed to
produce a useful engineering material. When martensite is tempered, it partially decomposes into ferrite and cementite. Tempered martensite is not as hard as just-quenched martensite, but it
is much tougher and is ner-grained as well.
Final Thoughts about Martensite
The heat treater might be interested to know that martensite formation is not restricted just to steels because other alloy systems
produce crystallographic changes of a similar nature (Table 1).
Learning more about martensite is an essential part of what we
need to do as heat treaters since it is one of the dening characteristics of our industry. IH
FCC to BCT
In-Ti, Mn-Cu
FCC to BCT
BCC to HCP
Cu-Zn, Cu-Sn
BCC to FCT
Cu-Al
Au-Cd
BCC to Orthorhombic
ZrO2
Tetragonal to Monoclinic
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Steel, D.V. Doane and J.S. Kirkaldy [Eds.], AIME, Warrendale, PA, 1978,
pp. 229-248.
Vander Voort, George F., Martensite and Retained Austenite,
Industrial Heating, April 2009.
Elements of Metallurgy and Engineering Alloys, F. C. Campbell [Ed.],
ASM International, 2008, pp. 169 173.
Vander Voort, George F., Microstructures of Ferrous Alloys,
Industrial Heating, January 2001.
Payares-Asprino, M. C., H Katsumot and S. Liu, Effect of Martensite
Start and Finish Temperature on Residual Stress Development in
Structural Steel Welds, Welding Journal, Vol. 87, November 2008.
Zackary, V. F., M. W. Justusson and D. J. Schmatz, Strengthening
Mechanisms in Solids, ASM International, 1962, p. 179.
G. B. Olson and W. S. Owen [Eds.], Martensite, ASM International,
1992.
Krauss, George, Steels Processing, Structure and Performance, ASM
International, 2005.
References
1. Krauss, G., Martensitic Transformation, Structure and Properties in
Hardenable Steels, in Hardenability Concepts with Applications to
10m
Fig. 3. Lath martensite example
(carburized 8620)[4]
10m
Fig. 4. Plate martensite example
(carburized 8620)[4]