Shift of the eutectoid point in the Fe–C binary system by a high magnetic field

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate experimentally the shift of the eutectoid point in the Fe–C binary system when applying a high magnetic field. The eutectoid carbon content is observed to shift from 0.77 wt% to 0.83 wt% under a 12 T magnetic field. A practical and complete calculation method is proposed—on the basis of the statistical thermodynamic model—to calculate the Gibbs free energy of the related phases and predict the shift of the eutectoid point due to a magnetic field in both composition and temperature coordinates. The composition values are seen to be in fair agreement with the experimental data. The calculation of both shifts shows that the rise in eutectoid temperature because of the 12 T field is 28.97 °C. The impact of the magnetic field on both eutectoid carbon content and eutectoid temperature is not linear. The rate of the shift of both carbon content and temperature decreases as the magnetic field rises.