Steels—Processing, Structure, and Performance, Second Edition Copyright © 2015 ASM International®

G. Krauss All rights reserved

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AT TEMPERATURES between those at which the eutectoid transforma-

tion of austenite to pearlite and the transformation of austenite to martensite
occur, a variety of unique microstructures may form in carbon steels. Daven-
port and Bain (Ref 6.1) showed by careful light microscopy that the micro-
structures formed at such intermediate temperatures were quite different from
those of pearlite and martensite, and in honor of Edgar C. Bain, in 1934 his
colleagues termed the unique microstructures bainite. Only later, in 1939 and

published by Zener (Ref 6.4) and reprinted by Bhadeshia (Ref 6.5), that
Ar1

1% 50% 95% Pearlite

Temperature

Bainite
1%
50%
95%

1%
50%
Martensite
95%

Log, time of hold

clearly shows the intermediate temperature range, between those of pearl-
ite and martensite, for bainite formation. Steels with carbon contents other
than the eutectoid composition would of course have regions of proeutec-
toid phase formation at temperatures above that of pearlite formation.

bainite transformation is characteristic of low-alloy steels, especially on

continuous cooling, and several examples showing alloying effects on
producing separate proeutectoid ferrite/pearlite and bainite transformation
regions are presented in Chapter 10, “Isothermal and Continuous Cooling
Transformation Diagrams.” In plain carbon steels the transformation re-
gions for proeutectoid ferrite/pearlite and bainite are more continuous and
even overlap with decreasing temperature. In alloy steels, alloying ele-
ments may even cause the arrest of bainite transformation, causing incom-
plete transformation at intermediate temperatures (Ref 6.6). The extreme
effects of alloying, ranging from those in plain carbon steels to those in
alloyed steels, on bainitic transformation are shown schematically in the
time-temperature-transformation diagrams in Fig. 6.2.

The temperature at which bainite transformation starts is referred to as

the BS temperature, and several empirical equations that show the effect of
alloying elements on BS have been determined (Ref 6.5). Steven and
Hayes (Ref 6.8) established the following equation for BS as a function of
composition (in wt%) for hardenable low-alloy steels containing from 0.1
to 0.55% carbon:

BS
– 83(%Mo) (Eq 6.1)

For low-carbon bainitic steels, containing between 0.15 and 0.29% C, for
high-temperature applications in the electric power industry, Bodnar et al.
(Ref 6.9) established the following equation, with compositions of the al-
loying elements in wt%:

BS (Eq 6.2)

Bainitic microstructures take many forms. In medium- and high-carbon

steels, bainite, like pearlite, is a mixture of ferrite and cementite, and is
therefore dependent on the diffusion-controlled partitioning of carbon be-
tween ferrite and cementite. However, unlike pearlite, the ferrite and ce-
mentite are present in non-lamellar arrays. As in martensite, the ferrite of
bainitic microstructures may appear as acicular crystals, similar to the
laths and plate-shaped crystals of martensite. Two major morphologies of
-
scribed subsequently, and in view of the two temperature ranges at which
the morphologies develop, Mehl in 1939 designated the types as upper
(temperature) bainite and lower (temperature) bainite (Ref 6.2). Figure
6.3, as determined by Pickering (Ref 6.10), shows the effect of steel car-
bon content on transition temperatures between upper and lower bainite
formation.
In low-carbon steels, at intermediate transformation temperature ranges,
austenite may transform only to ferrite, resulting in two-phase micro-
structures of ferrite and retained austenite. The latter microstructures have
morphologies quite different from the proeutectoid ferrite morphologies de-
scribed in Chapter 4, “Pearlite, Ferrite, and Cementite.” Although some fea-
tures of the intermediate ferritic microstructures are similar to those of the
classical bainites, the absence of cementite in ferritic microstructures makes
possible a clear differentiation of intermediate-temperature-transformation
products of austenite decomposition.

lamellar ferrite-cementite product of austenite transformation, Aaronson

et al. recognize six morphologies of bainite (Ref 6.11); Fig. 6.4 shows
schematically those six morphologies of cementite-ferrite microstruc-
tures considered to be bainites. Upper and lower bainites are the most