The Iron-Carbon Phase

Diagram
Steven Shepherd
December 06, 2005
A Very Complex Iron-Carbon Phase
Diagram (1992)
A Slightly Less Complex Phase
Diagram
A Simple Iron-Carbon Phase
Diagram
A Very Simple Iron-Carbon Phase
Diagram
“The” Iron-Carbon Phase Diagram
 Why do We Care?
• Iron
– Properties of Iron
• Steel
– Ferrite, pearlite, cementite, austenite
– Can heat-treat so it can suit its
application
– Good steel versus bad steel
• 1% C
• Bessemer Process
 Ferrite and Austenite
• Ferrite
– Known as α-iron
– Pure iron at room temperature
– Body-centered cubic structure
• Austenite
– Known as γ-iron
– 910°C
– Face-centered cubic
– Much softer than ferrite
• More easily worked
• blacksmithing
 Pearlite and Cementite
•Pearlite (Perlite)
–Pearly lustre in the
microscope
•Interference of light in its
regular layers
–Most common constituent
of steel
–Gives steel most of its
strength
–“layered mixture of ferrite
and cementite of average
composition 0.83% carbon”
–Point D
•Cementite
–Hard, brittle, white
–melts at 1837°C
– density of 7.4 g/cc
–On the phase diagram,
cementite corresponds to a
vertical line at 6.7% C
–Engineers only care about
compounds with less carbon
 Interesting Information
•Left of point B = a steel
–Heated  uniform
austenite phase
•Right of point B = a
cast-iron
•Point E = eutectic
–Lowest fusing T (1130 C)
•Liquid left of E
austenite & ledeburite
•Right of Ecementite &
ledeburite
•Eutectoids
–Like eutectic
•No melting
–Normalization of steel
(723 C)
•No melting, just hot
enough to become
austenite (>1130 C)
 More Interesting Information
•Around Point C
–looks like an
inverted eutectoid--
not a eutectoid
–What happens at
point C is called a
peritectic reaction, as
δ-iron is dissolved
and austenite formed
 Interesting Sites Concerning
Phase Diagrams

• Interactive Phase Diagram--

http://www.soton.ac.uk/~pasr1/intera
ct.htm#map3d
• Cellular Automata Phase Diagrams–
http://www.physics.emory.edu/~week
s/ca/ca.html
 Works Cited
• http://www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/
mw1_ge/kap_8/illustr/
phasendiagramm_fe.gif
• http://www.roymech.co.uk/
Useful_Tables/Matter/Phase_diagram.html
• http://members.lycos.nl/cvdv/
ironcarbondiagrams/Zhukov1992.htm
• http://www.kuleuven.ac.be/bwk/materials/
Teaching/media/wg02/f0100006.jpg
• http://www.du.edu/~jcalvert/phys/
phase.htm