Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Martensite
Summary
Martensite is a very hard form of steel crystalline structure. It is named after German Adolf Martens. By analogy the term can also refer to any crystal structure that is formed by diffusionless transformation.
Martensite is formed in carbon steels by the rapid cooling (quenching) of the austenite form of iron at such a high rate that carbon atoms do not have time to diffuse out of the crystal structure in large enough quantities to form cementite (Fe3C). Austenite is gamma-phase iron (γ-Fe), a solid solution of iron and alloying elements. As a result of the quenching, the face-centered cubic austenite transforms to a highly strained body-centered tetragonal form called martensite that is supersaturated with carbon. The shear deformations that result produce a large number of dislocations, which is a primary strengthening mechanism of steels. The highest hardness of a pearlitic steel is 400 Brinell, whereas martensite can achieve 700 Brinell.
The martensitic reaction begins during cooling when the austenite reaches the martensite start temperature (Ms), and the parent austenite becomes mechanically unstable. As the sample is quenched, an increasingly large percentage of the austenite transforms to martensite until the lower transformation temperature Mf is reached, at which time the transformation is completed.
For a eutectoid steel (0.76% C), between 6 and 10% of austenite, called retained austenite, will remain. The percentage of retained austenite increases from insignificant for less than 0.6% C steel, to 13% retained austenite at 0.95% C and 30–47% retained austenite for a 1.4% carbon steel. A very rapid quench is essential to create martensite. For a eutectoid carbon steel of thin section, if the quench starting at 750 °C and ending at 450 °C takes place in 0.7 seconds (a rate of 430 °C/s) no pearlite will form, and the steel will be martensitic with small amounts of retained austenite.
For steel with 0–0.6% carbon, the martensite has the appearance of lath and is called lath martensite.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Ontological neighbourhood
Related courses (10)
MSE-302: Phase transformations
Ce cours est une introduction aux transformations de phases liquide-solide et solide-solide. Il aborde les aspects thermodynamiques et cristallographiques. Il traite principalement des matériaux métal
MSE-234: Mechanical behaviour of materials
Ce cours est une introduction au comportement mécanique, à l'élaboration, à la structure et au cycle de vie des grandes classes de matériaux de structure (métaux, polymères, céramiques et composites)
MSE-422: Advanced metallurgy
This course covers the metallurgy, processing and properties of modern high-performance metals and alloys (e.g. advanced steels, Ni-base, Ti-base, High Entropy Alloys etc.). In addition, the principle
Related concepts (16)
Austenite
Austenite, also known as gamma-phase iron (γ-Fe), is a metallic, non-magnetic allotrope of iron or a solid solution of iron with an alloying element. In plain-carbon steel, austenite exists above the critical eutectoid temperature of 1000 K (727 °C); other alloys of steel have different eutectoid temperatures. The austenite allotrope is named after Sir William Chandler Roberts-Austen (1843–1902); it exists at room temperature in some stainless steels due to the presence of nickel stabilizing the austenite at lower temperatures.
Carbon steel
Carbon steel is a steel with carbon content from about 0.05 up to 2.1 percent by weight. The definition of carbon steel from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) states: no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt, molybdenum, nickel, niobium, titanium, tungsten, vanadium, zirconium, or any other element to be added to obtain a desired alloying effect; the specified minimum for copper does not exceed 0.40%; or the specified maximum for any of the following elements does not exceed the percentages noted: manganese 1.
Allotropes of iron
At atmospheric pressure, three allotropic forms of iron exist, depending on temperature: alpha iron (α-Fe, ferrite), gamma iron (γ-Fe, austenite), and delta iron (δ-Fe). At very high pressure, a fourth form exists, epsilon iron (ε-Fe, hexaferrum). Some controversial experimental evidence suggests the existence of a fifth high-pressure form that is stable at very high pressures and temperatures. The phases of iron at atmospheric pressure are important because of the differences in solubility of carbon, forming different types of steel.