Influence of heating rate on annealing and reverse transformation behavior of TRIP steels having martensite as starting microstructure

Abstract

The influence of heating rate on the annealing and transformation behavior is investigated in TRIP steel having martensite as the starting microstructure. A higher heating rate preserves the hierarchical structure of the initial microstructure before starting the reverse transformation. As the heating rate increases, the reversely transformed austenite has a propensity to develop a fine lath morphology, a consequence of the retention of pre-existing austenite and its growth along the lath boundary.