Martensitic Transformation

The name Martensite was initially given to hardened but untampered steels because they
were formed by quenching iron carbon steels from a high temperature. It was later extended
to phase transitions of nonferrous alloys and intermetallic compounds as well which had
certain properties. The key features of this transformation are deformation accompanied by
change in crystal structure and may therefore not necessarily take place only in steels. It is a
diffusionless process accompanied by deformation, which leads to change in crystal structure.
Prerequisites of Formation
The main requirement of the transformation is the free energy if the martensite must be lower
than that of the Austenite in case of iron carbon steel alloy. Since the transformation needs
certain additional energy such as surface energy or transformation strain energy, the
difference in free energies must account for these additional energies for overall reaction to
occur. This balance of strain energy and free energy is what leads to the Martensite having
structure of plates which minimize the strain energy. Other than the thermodynamic
requirement, the transformation also possesses few physical restrictions like the
transformation possessing an invariant line caused by an Invariant plane strain. An
invariant line means that the parent and the product lattice should have one line in their
structure common. One line of atoms should remain undistorted and unrotated.
In case of steels the important requirement of formation of martensite is the presence of
Austenite. When Austenite is cooled rapidly below a certain temperature called the
martensite start temperature denoted by Ms, we begin to see the martensite starting to form and
as we further cool it we reach a martensite finish temperature Mf. If the Austenite is allowed
to cool slowly then pearlite may form out of the Austenite which doesn’t transform into
martensite.
Formation of BCT from FCC lattice

Habit plane
The Austenite which is in FCC can also be imagined as a body-centred tetragonal by joining
two FCC unit cells and then considering the two atoms on the face centres in a plane and two
on the corners as the corner atoms of the new BCT unit cell. This unit cell would have a c/a
ratio of 1.414. The martensitic transformation involves the compression along c axis and
broadening of the base so the c/a ratio is always less than 1.414. This takes place by a
mechanism called Bain Strain. But this does not leave any invariant line which is essential
for the martensitic transformation so this compression and expansion is accompanied with a
rigid body rotation which creates an invariant line. In this way the coordinated motion of
neighbouring atoms without the breaking bonds is how the transformation occurs. This is
followed by lattice invariant deformations such as by slip systems or by twinning.
As we can clearly see in the diagram the basal plane of the initial unit cell is same or
invariant with the formed martensitic unit cell hence that is the Habit plane.

The above diagram explains the mechanism of the martensitic transformation. Here P1 and
P2 are two invariant plane strains which act on the austenitic unit cell to produce a invariant
line system. The invariant line is simply the line of intersection of the two invariant plane
strains. The effect produced by them is same as that produced by the Bain strain followed by
the rigid body rotation. This is then accompanied with slip or twinning to get the shaped that
we observe in the martensitic structure.
References:
• https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=rZeHa-
8X7W4C&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=martensitic+transformation&ots=QeprE--
zV8&sig=RC0DbzdmmHT4lmqyno1yTLsWDrA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f
=false
• https://www.phase-trans.msm.cam.ac.uk/2000/C9/lectures45.pdf
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359645415003936?casa_toke
n=heCCWyoJHcYAAAAA:WXQm4ls45Brxf82CZQBHwBwfqignuJ_iFtZX6hH
a9vsij3AiEvlW1XRN7SqaD_6a1xms3vYO
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kANFLLGLkWc
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KInFzI63jCs