Institute of Fundamental Technological Research

Acoustic emission and dilatometry were applied to investigate the characteristics of phase transformations in bearing steel 100CrMnSi6-4 during austempering below the martensite start temperature (MS 175 °C) at 150 °C. The aim of this study is to characterize the product of transformation occurring below the MS temperature using various research methods. Analysis of the dilatometric curves shows that, after the formation of athermal martensite below the MS temperature, the austenite continues to undergo isothermal transformation, indicating the formation of bainite. Additionally, tests were carried out with the use of acoustic emission during isothermal hardening of the adopted steel. The obtained acoustic emission signals were analyzed using an artificial neural network. The results, in the form of a graph of the frequency of acoustic emission (AE) event occurrence as a function of time, make it possible to infer about the bainite isothermal transformation. The results of this research may be used in the future to design optimal heat treatment methods and, consequently, may enable desired microstructure shaping.

bainite, austempering, acoustic emission, neural networks, dilatometry

Bearing steel 100CrMnSi6-4 and tool steel C105U were used to carry out this research with the steels being austempered to obtain a martensitic-bainitic structure. During the process quite a large number of acoustic emissions (AE) were observed. These signals were then analysed using neural networks resulting in the identification of three groups of events of: high, medium and low energy and in addition their spectral characteristics were plotted. The results were presented in the form of diagrams of AE incidence as a function of time. It was demonstrated that complex transformations of austenite into martensite and bainite occurred when austempering bearing steel at 160 °C and tool steel at 130 °C respectively. The selected temperatures of isothermal quenching of the tested steels were within the area near to MS temperature, which affected the complex course of phase transition. The high activity of AE is a typical occurrence for martensitic transformation and this is the transformation mechanism that induces the generation of AE signals of higher energy in the first stage of transition. In the second stage of transformation, the initially nucleated martensite accelerates the occurrence of the next bainitic transformation.

microstructure, phase transformation, dislocation, ultrasonics, alloys

During the course of the study it involved tool steel C105U was used. The steel was austempered at temperatures of 130°C, 160°C and 180°C respectively. Methods of acoustic emission (AE) were used to investigate the resulting effects associated with transformations and a large number of AE events were registered. Neural networks were applied to analyse these phenomena. In the tested signal, three groups of events were identified of: high, medium and low energy. The average spectral characteristics enabled the power of the signal spectrum to be determined. After completing the process, the results were compiled in the form of diagrams of the relationship of the AE incidence frequency as a function of time. Based on the results, it was found that in the austempering of tool steel, in the first stage of transformation midrib morphology is formed. Midrib is a twinned thin plate martensite. In the 2nd stage of transformation, the intensity of the generation of medium energy events indicates the occurrence of bainite initialised by martensite. The obtained graphic of AE characteristics of tool steel austempering allow conclusions to be drawn about the kinetics and the mechanism of this transformation.

carbon steel, austempering, lower bainite, acoustic emission (AE), neural networks

The research was carried out on steel 100CrMnSi6-4 under isothermal austempering resulting in forming the duplex structure: martensitic and bainitic. The kinetics of transformation was controlled by the acoustic emission method. Complex phase transformations caused by segregation and carbide banding occur at the low-temperature heat treatment of bearing steel. At the temperature close to MS, a certain temperature range occurs where an effect of the first product of prior athermal martensite on the bainitic transformation can be observed. In the registered signal about 15 million various events were registered. There were considered three types of acoustic emission events (of high, medium and low energy), with relatively wide sections and with different spectral characteristics. It was found that the method of acoustic emission complemented by the application of neural networks is a sensitive tool to identify the kinetics of bainitic transformation and to show the interaction between martensitic and bainitic transformations.

Bearing steel, austempering, lower bainite, acoustic emission, neural networks

There has been proposed an innovative thermal treatment of bearing steel 100CrMnSi6-4, where the existing standard heat treatment has been replaced by austempering. The structure of low-temperature tempered martensite has been replaced by a microstructure composed of martensite and lower bainite with midrib. The kinetics of bainitic transformation and isothermal martensitic transition at selected austempering temperatures was controlled by acoustic emission. The research on contact strength was made under the conditions of rolling-sliding friction. The microstructure was revealed with the use of a light microscope and the forms of pitting wear were displayed by a scanning electron microscope. It was found that the optimum microstructure providing the best used contact strength of the tested steel is conditioned by the formation of a lower bainite with midrib at the temperatures near MS. A plausible cause of the increased resistance to pitting is bifurcation of fatigue cracks on dispersion bainitic carbides in combination with primary carbides, in bainitic-martensitic matrix.

Acoustic Methods, Bainite, Bearing Steels, Isothermal Heat Treatment, Midrib, Pitting, Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF)