Relationship between acoustic emission energy and the kinetics of martensite formation in plain carbon steels

Abstract

The kinetics of the martensitic transformation in Fe-0.80C determined on the basis of dilatometry data is compared to the acoustic emission (AE) energy accompanying the transformation in the same steel reported in a previous study. The discrepancy between the AE energy and the volume fraction of martensite indicates that the mechanism for the generation of AE during the martensitic transformation is not solely dependent on the kinetics and the associated moving interfaces as suggested in previous studies. During the growth of martensite, slip takes place in order to relieve internal stresses, and dislocations are thought to be mainly introduced in the relatively soft austenite matrix. The quantitative analysis in this study demonstrates that the AE energy generated per unit time is a function of both the transformation kinetics and the volume fraction of remaining austenite. This strongly indicates that the moving dislocations associated with the plastic deformation of the austenite surrounding the as-formed martensite are the dominant sources of the generated acoustic waves. This improved AE source model is consistent with the well-accepted mechanism of AE during conventional plastic deformation due to an external load.

Keywords:

• martensitic phase transformation
• kinetics
• dilatometry
• acoustic emission