Kinetics of the Bainite Transformation in Austempered Ductile Iron ADI

Abstract

The aim of the present research is to check an analytical model of the kinetics of bainite transformation that will enable the producers of ADI to optimise the microstructure and mechanical properties and minimise the expensive and extensive experimental trials. A combination of thermodynamics and kinetic theory was used successfully to estimate the evolution of bainite as a function of temperature, time, chemical composition and austenite grain size and predict the processing window in austempered ductile iron using a bainite transformation model developed previously for high silicon steels. The results of the present research show that the bainitic model developed for high silicon steels is applicable for calculations of the processing window for ADI.