Transformation Textures in Unstable Austenitic Steel

Abstract

During the martensitic transformation in elastic-plastic materials, the local transformation strain as well as the plastic flow inside austenite are strongly related with the crystallographic orientation of the austenitic lattice. Two mechanisms involved in these materials, i.e., plasticity by dislocation motion and martensitic phase formation are coupled through kinematical constraints so that the lattice spin of the austenitic grains is different from the one due to classical slip. In this work, the lattice spin ω˙eA of the austenitic grains is related with the slip rate on the slip systems of the two phases, γ˙A and γ˙M, the evolution of the martensite volume fraction f˙ and the overall rotation rate Ω˙ of the grains. This new relation is integrated in a micromechanical model developed for unstable austenite in order to predict the evolution of the austenite texture during TRansformation Induced Plasticity (TRIP). Results for the evolution of the lattice orientation during martensitic transformation are compared with experimental data obtained by X-ray diffraction on a 304 AISI steel.