When Zener formulated his maximum growth rate criterion for predicting the coarseness of various metallographic objects, he simplified the growth rate equations and predicted that the optimum coarseness should be twice the critical value for which all the driving force would be absorbed by interfacial energy. It is now emphasized that a composition dependence of the diffusion coefficient has a considerable influence and can result in a ratio much larger than two. Various approximations have now been removed from the growth rate equation. When applied to acicular ferrite in the Fe-C system, a C-curve for the growth rate is obtained that resembles the unusually wide C-curve obtained experimentally when information on Widmanstatten ferrite and bainite is combined. It is not necessary to explain that shape as a combination of separate curves for Widmanstatten ferrite and bainite. The main reason for the wide C-curve is the direct effect of the composition dependence of the diffusivity of carbon in austenite.
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