Influence of Carbon on the Microstructure Evolution and Hardness of Fe–13Cr–xC (x = 0–0.7 wt.%) Stainless Steel

The influence of carbon on the phase transformation behavior of stainless steels with the base chemical composition Fe–13Cr (wt.%), and carbon concentrations in the range of 0–0.7 wt.%, was studied at temperatures between −196 °C and liquidus temperature. Based on differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements, the solidification mode changed from ferritic to ferritic–austenitic as the carbon concentration increased. The DSC results were in fair agreement with the thermodynamic equilibrium calculation results. In contrast to alloys containing nearly 0% C and 0.1% C, alloys containing 0.2–0.7% C exhibited a fully austenitic phase stability range without delta ferrite at high temperatures. Quenching to room temperature (RT) after heat treatment in the austenite range resulted in the partial transformation to martensite. Due to the decrease in the martensite start temperature, the fraction of retained austenite increased with the carbon concentration. The austenite fraction was reduced by cooling to −196 °C. The variation in hardness with carbon concentration for as-quenched steels with martensitic–austenitic microstructures indicated a maximum at intermediate carbon concentrations. Given the steady increase in the tetragonality of martensite at higher carbon concentrations, as confirmed by X-ray diffraction measurements, the variation in hardness with carbon concentration is governed by the amount and stability of austenite.