Iron phase diagram

Figure 1. Cerium-iron phase diagram showing complete solubility in the liquid phase, zero solubility in the solid phases and one, single, low-melting point eutectic 92.5% Ce.

Dr Bo Sundman for providing data for the iron phase-diagram. A text of this type cannot become reality without dedicated work from the publisher from among those at Pearson Education who have seen this project develop from infancy and provided us with support, particular thanks go to Lynn Brandon, Pauline Gillett, Juhe Knight, Paul Nash, Alex Seabrook and Ros Woodward, and to Bridget Allen and Kevin Ancient for tireless and dedicated work on the design and artwork. 

How many phases coexist at a triple point in the iron phase diagram ... 

Figure 18.28 The lithium/sulfur iron phase diagram.

Gio] Giorgi, M.-Y, Guillot, J.-B., Nicolle, R., Assessment of the Zinc-Aluminium-Iron Phase Diagrams in the Zinc-Rich Comer , Calphad, 25(3), 461-474 (2001) (Phase Diagram, Phase Relations, Thermodyn.,, 36). 

Fig. 1. Iron—carbon phase diagram, where a is the body-centered cubic (bcc) a-iron, y is the face-centered cubic y-iron, and Fe C is iron carbide(3 l)...

Heat Treatment of Steel. Steels are alloys having up to about 2% carbon in iron plus other alloying elements. The vast application of steels is mainly owing to their ability to be heat treated to produce a wide spectmm of properties. This occurs because of a crystallographic or aHotropic transformation which takes place upon quenching. This transformation and its role in heat treatment can be explained by the crystal stmcture of iron and by the appropriate phase diagram for steels (see Steel). 

Fig. 16. Iron—iron carbide phase diagram (1). See text.

Figure 6.3 The iron-carbon phase diagram showing the alternative production of iron and cementite from the liquid alloy, which occurs in practice, to the equilibrium production of graphite...

To make martensite in pure iron it has to be cooled very fast at about 10 °C s h Metals can only be cooled at such large rates if they are in the form of thin foils. How, then, can martensite be made in sizeable pieces of 0.8% carbon steel As we saw in the "Teaching Yourself Phase Diagrams" course, a 0.8% carbon steel is a "eutectoid" steel when it is cooled relatively slowly it transforms by diffusion into pearlite (the eutectoid mixture of a + FejC). The eutectoid reaction can only start when the steel has been cooled below 723°C. The nose of the C-curve occurs at = 525°C (Fig. 8.11), about 175°C lower than the nose temperature of perhaps 700°C for pure iron (Fig. 8.5). Diffusion is much slower at 525°C than it is at 700°C. As a result, a cooling rate of 200°C s misses the nose of the 1% curve and produces martensite. 

Fig. 11.1. The left-hand part of the iron-carbon phase diagram. There ore five phases in the Fe-FejC system L, 5, y, or and Fe3C (see Table 1 1.1).

Many stainless steels, however, are austenitic (f.c.c.) at room temperature. The most common austenitic stainless, "18/8", has a composition Fe-0.1% C, 1% Mn, 18% Cr, 8% Ni. The chromium is added, as before, to give corrosion resistance. But nickel is added as well because it stabilises austenite. The Fe-Ni phase diagram (Fig. 12.8) shows why. Adding nickel lowers the temperature of the f.c.c.-b.c.c. transformation from 914°C for pure iron to 720°C for Fe-8% Ni. In addition, the Mn, Cr and Ni slow the diffusive f.c.c.-b.c.c. transformation down by orders of magnitude. 18/8 stainless steel can therefore be cooled in air from 800°C to room temperature without transforming to b.c.c. The austenite is, of course, unstable at room temperature. Flowever, diffusion is far too slow for the metastable austenite to transform to ferrite by a diffusive mechanism. It is, of course, possible for the austenite to transform displacively to give... 

Smithells Metals Reference Book, 7th edition, Butterworth-Heinemann, 1992 (for data on uses and compositions of steels, and iron-based phase diagrams). 

A piece of plain carbon steel containing 0.2 wt% carbon was case-carburised to give a case depth of 0.3 mm. The carburising was done at a temperature of 1000°C. The Fe-C phase diagram shows that, at this temperature, the iron can dissolve carbon to a maximum concentration of 1.4 wt%. Diffusion of carbon into the steel will almost immediately raise the level of carbon in the steel to a constant value of 1.4 wt% just beneath the surface of the steel. However, the concentration of carbon well below the surface will increase more slowly towards the maximum value of 1.4 wt% because of the time needed for the carbon to diffuse into the interior of the steel. 

Figure A1.37 shows the iron-carbon phase diagram up to 6.7 wt% carbon (to the first intermetallic compound, FejC). Of all the phase diagrams you, as an engineer, will encounter, this is the most important. So much so that you simply have to learn the names of the phases, and the approximate regimes of composition and temperature they occupy. The phases are ...

The polymorphism of certain metals, iron the most important, was after centuries of study perceived to be the key to the hardening of steel. In the process of studying iron polymorphism, several decades were devoted to a red herring, as it proved this was the P-iron controversy. P-iron was for a long time regarded as a phase distinct from at-iron (Smith 1965) but eventually found to be merely the ferromagnetic form of ot-iron thus the supposed transition from P to a-iron was simply the Curie temperature, p-iron has disappeared from the iron-carbon phase diagram and all transformations are between a and y. 

Cast irons, although common, are in fact quite complex alloys. The iron-carbon phase diagram exhibits a eutectic reaction at 1 420 K and 4-3 wt.<7oC see Fig. 20.44). One product of this eutectic reaction is always austenite however, depending on the cooling rate and the composition of the alloy, the other product may be cementite or graphite. The graphite may be in the form of flakes which are all interconnected (although they appear separate on a... 

Fig. 7.2 Fe-O phase diagram showing the principal solid phases stable on iron and wide stoichiometry limits of FeO (after White )...

Fig. 20.45 (a) Iron-rich end of the iron-nickel phase diagram and (ft) iron-rich end of the iron-... 

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