CYCLIC

EFFECT

OF

ON T H E

SHAPE

(UDC

o~-y

TRANSFORMATIONS

OF I R O N S A M P L E S

620.17.24:669.295-41

M. G. Lozinskii

: 669.127.5)

and

V. Y a .

Ferenets

GKM Institute of Machine Studies, Gosplan USSR

Translated from Metallovedenie i T e r m i c h e s k a y a Obrabotka Metallov, No.12,
pp. 42-43, December, 1964

We heated samples by passing through them an alternating current of industrial frequency under low voltage.
In this manner we created a temperature gradient along the sample. The apparatus used and the system of t e m p e r a ture regulation are described in [1, 2].
Our experiments showed an anomalous behavior of samples of t e c h n i c a l iron (containing 0.02~ C) subjected to
a given stress and rapidly heated and cooled between 800 and 1100~
Characteristic sharp corners 0.5 m m high
appeared on the samples with a square cross section and the faces, which were plane before heating, b e c a m e rounded.
The tests were m a d e with the IMASh-8 apparatus [2], which makes it possible to observe directly and to photograph the microstructure of samples subjected simultaneously to tensile stresses (0.3-0.6 k g / m m 2) and to the desired
temperature.
The temperature of the polymorphic transformation decreases considerably as the result of adsorption of carbon
(contained in t e c h n i c a l iron) around the grain boundaries,and the considerable enrichment of the grain boundaries
in carbon. As the result of this decrease in temperature of the polymorphic transformation two necks are formed in
the areas induced by the c~ ~-?, transformation in the preboundary layer, which has a high carbon c o n c e n t r a t i o n [ i , 2].
It was found that the necks form in areas where the temperature is between 720 and 850~
This leads us to assume
that the preboundary areas are enriched in carbon up to 0.3~ C, although the total amount of carbon in the samples
(according to the c h e m i c a l analysis) is only 0.02~
Figure l a shows the initial shape of the sample and Fig. l b shows the cross section (3 x 3 ram).
After a certain number of thermal cycles (100 or more),
the rate of increase in the temperature being r e l a t i v e l y high
(15-50 deg/sec) and the m a x i m u m temperature of the
cycles being 1030-1100~
peculiar ridges appear in the
"hot zone" (Fig. l c , ld). When the samples were tested
under similar conditions (800-1100~
but the rate of increase in the temperature was only 6-10 deg/sec), no
ridges formed on the corners of the samples.

~ 3 -i

b)

/~
a)

|
d)
Fig. 1. Sample of t e c h n i c a l iron. a) Initial shape;
b) transverse section of the middle part; c,d) diagrams of the shape and cross section of the sample
after c y c l i c heating and cooling between 800 and
1100~ ( in the middle part) by e l e c t r i c current
under a tensile stress of 0.5 k g / m m 2.

754

On the basis of the analysis of the causes of changes

in the shape of the middle part of the samples under the effect of c y c l i c variations of temperature range of polymorpic transformation of iron twice during e a c h c y c l e , we propose the following explanation of this phenomenon,
During cooling, the most intense heat loss by r a d i a tion (if the sample is in vacuum the heat loss is only by
radiation and no loss of heat by convection is possible) is
from the corners of the sample. During this drop in t e m perature, the)~-modification is transformed into the czmodification, which is accompanied by an increase in

Fig. 2. Microstructure of the middle part of a sample of technical iron after 200 cycles
of heating and cooling between 800 and 1100~ in vacuum under tensile stress of 0.5
k g / m m z. a) Transverse section; b) longitudinal section along the corner. Etched in a
3% solution of HNO 3 in a l c o h o l . ( x 75).
volume, and as the result separate microsections of the corners of the sample are displaced. Nothing inhibits this
process, and during the following heating and cooling cycles the material along the corners is displaced again, which
increases the size of the ridges even more.
The slight roundness in the faces of the samples may be due to the increase in volume accompanying the potymorphic c~ ~- y transformation in the corners,where the rate of increase in the volume is higher than in the adjacent
areas. In these areas of the corners, the decrease in temperature is accompanied by the transformation of iron from
the 7 - into the a - m o d i f i c a t i o n .
Study of the cross section of the sample subjected to cyclic heatfng and cooling under the conditions described revealed interesting singularities.
Figure 2a shows the transverse section of a sample in the area where the ridges were formed after 200 cycles
of heating and cooling between 800 and 1100~ under a tensile stress of 0.5 kg m m z, Figure 2b shows the longitudinal section of the same sample. It can be seen that in the middle part of the sampIe the structure consists of small
grains and that the grain size increases from the center to the surface of the sample. In the areas of the ridges, there

755

are large polyhedrons of iron. We may assume that the growth of large grains is facilitated by easier local recrysrallization in the areas adjacent to the corners.
The change in the shape of machine parts subjected to cyclic temperatures at which the m a t e r i a l undergoes
polymorphic transformation while under tensile stress warrants further investigation. Possibly we can learn to controi
the changes in the sizes of treated samples, which would be of considerable p r a c t i c a l interest, for example in developing a technique by which a given shape could be produced by local thermal cycles.
LITERATURE
1.

2.
3,

4.

756

CITED

M. G. Lozinskii, I. S. Simeonova, and A. E. Fedorovskii, Izv. AN SSSR, Metallurgiya i toplivo, 8 (1959).

M. G, Lozinskii, Structure and Properties of Metals and Alloys at High Temperatures [in Russian], Moscow,
Metallurgizdat (1963).
V. I. Arkharov, Trudy Institute Fiziki metallov UFAN SSSR, 14 (1954).
A. S. Z a v ' y a l o v and B. I. Bruk, FMM, 8, 3 (1959).