Thermodynamic calculation on the stability of (Fe,Mn)(3)AlC carbide in high aluminum steels

Abstract

A CALPHAD type thermodynamic description for the Fe-Mn-Al-C quaternary system has been constructed by combining a newly assessed Mn-Al-C ternary description and a partly modified Fe-Al-C description to an existing thermodynamic database for steels. A special attention was paid to reproduce experimentally reported phase stability of kappa carbide in high Al and high Mn steels. This paper demonstrates that the proposed thermodynamic description makes it possible to predict phase equilibria in corresponding alloys with a practically acceptable accuracy. The applicability of the thermodynamic calculation is also demonstrated for the interpretation of microstructural and constitutional evolution during industrial processes for high Al steels. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.