Transitions in carbide morphology in molybdenum and vanadium steels

Abstract

The decomposition of austenite to ferrite and alloy carbides has been investigated in a molybdenum and a vanadium steel by direct isothermal transformation at constant temperature and by changing the temperature during transformation. In this way transitions from interphase growth to fibrous growth of carbides have been studied using electron metallography. The experiments have also shown that the nature of the γ α interface changes with transformation temperature, and it is concluded that this is the significant factor in determining the carbide morphology. The influence of crystallographic factors such as the degree of misfit between carbide and matrix are also discussed.