Determination of Internal Stresses During Pearlite Transformation of 0.8c–1.5Mn Steel Through In-Situ Neutron Diffraction

In this study, in-situ neutron diffraction during pearlite transformation and isothermal holding at 873 K after cooling of a 0.8C–1.5Mn steel specimen from 1323 K were conducted to measure the transformation stresses related to a eutectoid transformation. The stress relaxation behavior in cementite was also monitored to elucidate the relaxation of transformation elastic strains during isothermal annealing after pearlite transformation. By referring to the stress-free lattice parameter of an extracted electrolytic single-phase cementite sample after the long-time isothermal holding at 873 K, the transformation stresses were successfully evaluated. As one of the main findings, the elastic volume strain in cementite was determined to be approximately − 0.362%.