Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science 9 (2005) 277–286

An overview on bainite formation in steels

Zhi-Gang Yang *, Hong-Sheng Fang
Department of Material Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China

Abstract

The present report makes an attempt to review some studies by Chinese researchers on bainite in steel from the viewpoint of thermo-
dynamics, kinetics, crystallography, microstructure, mechanism, etc. Due to the complexity of bainite transformation in steels, the exten-
sive disagreement between the diffusion school and the shear school on bainite formation are discussed. A sympathetic nucleation and
diffusion controlled ledgewise growth mechanism rather than shear mechanism is favored by the authors. Nevertheless, some further
works are still necessary for a full understanding of various bainite with different composition and morphology.
Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Bainite; Sympathetic nucleation; Ledgewise growth; Shear; Diffusion

1. Introduction cive’’ defines a military process, in which movement of sub-

stitutional atoms on one side of the interphase boundary is
As early as 1929, Robertson [1] and Davenport and Bain coordinated simultaneously or precisely by the sequential
[2] undertook an original observation of the unique mor- glide-type motion across the parent/product interface.
phology during intermediate temperature isothermal treat- The term ‘‘diffusional’’ or ‘‘reconstructive’’ is employed
ment in steel, which was considered as martensite–troostite to describe a non-military process in which atoms migrate
initially. About twenty years later, this kind of decomposi- towards or away from the interphase boundary individu-
tion product of austenite at a temperature below that of the ally by means of based diffusion random walk. Due to
austenite-to-pearlite reaction and above the temperature of the extremely complex picture of bainite reaction, after
martensite formation (Ms) was termed as bainite in memo- nearly 80 years of debate over the formation mechanism,
rial of the great contribution of Bain. Since then, the trans- it seems that an imminent agreement to this dispute is still
formation of austenite to bainite becomes probably the far away for the two schools, including some scientists
phenomenon that has caused most controversy in the field from PR China in this field.
of physical metallurgy. The mechanism of bainite forma- One of the most important experimental evidence sug-
tion has been the subject of numerous original research gesting the shear mechanism is the fundamental work of
papers and reviews for almost a century but without any Ko and Cottrell [4] and Ko [5], which shows that bainite
signs of controversies being resolved. Up to now, the con- and Widmanstatten ferrite in a hypereutectoid steel grow
troversy on the mechanism of the bainitic transformation slowly but simultaneously and produce martensite-like
as whether by shear or diffusion was still concerned with upheaval on the free surface of the specimens, but grain
the definition of bainite, the changes in composition at boundary ferrite allotriomorphs do not. Based on these
the onset of the bainite reaction, the growth mechanism observations, Ko and his college deduced that bainite
of the ferritic component of the bainite and the source of forms by shear, as does martensite, but with the kinetics
carbide precipitation etc. [3]. The term ‘‘shear’’ or ‘‘displa- of shear being paced by the diffusion of carbon in parent
phase so as to provide necessary driving force in the vicin-
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 10 62783848; fax: +86 10 62771160. ity of matrix/product interface. On the other hand, through
E-mail address: zgyang@tsinghua.edu.cn (Z.-G. Yang). the scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic

1359-0286/$ - see front matter Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.cossms.2006.06.005
278 Z.-G. Yang, H.-S. Fang / Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science 9 (2005) 277–286

force microscopy (AFM) measurement from Fang and

Yang [6], the shape of bainite surface relief is often
observed to be ‘‘tent-like’’ and that of martensite is of
invariant plane strain (IPS) type, and thus it is indicated
that bainite forms in a way different from martensite, i.e.
diffusion process. The diffusion school in China includes
Fang [7], Hsu [8], Liu [9] and Li [10] et al., whereas the
shear school includes Ko [4,5], Kang [11,12], Yu [13],
Wang [14] and Cui [15] et al. At least fours academic books
[7,9,12,14] major on bainite have been published by these
authors in Chinese at 1990s, and seven national confer-
Fig. 1. Optical microscopy observation of carbide-free bainite formed in
ences on bainite transformation have been carried out in
an Fe–1.0C–2.0Si–4.0Cr (wt%) alloy austenized at 1100 °C for 10 min and
China from 1987 to 2006, although the discrepancy isothermal treated at 300 °C for 30 min.
between them is so large that even an identical definition
of bainite has not been achieved yet. The present report
makes an attempt to review the Chinese scientists’ view- bon. The carbides will precipitate from bainitic ferrite at
points on bainite from thermodynamics, kinetics, crystal- late stage. Meta-bainite can also be classified as upper
lography, microstructure, mechanism, etc. meta-bainite and lower meta-bainite [19], both are actually
composed of low carbon martensite and carbon enriched
2. Classification and definition of bainite austenite. Ko et al. [20] even consider the proeutectoid
Widmanstatten ferrite as carbide-free bainite.
From both schools, bainite can be commonly classified During continuous cooling (or high temperature isother-
into upper bainite and lower bainite as originally indicated mal treatment) in low carbon Mn or Mo containing steels,
by Mehl [16] depending on the variation of transformation another type of bainite, named as granular bainite [21], is
temperature and alloy composition. Both upper and lower always observed, which presents a microstructure of ferrite
bainite consist of aggregates of plates (sheaves) of ferrite, matrix + islands. The structure of inside islands of granular
separated by untransformed austenite, cementite or mar- bainite may be martensite + retained austenite, or martens-
tensite. Upper bainite (feathery bainite) forms at higher ite + bainite + retained austenite or other metastable struc-
temperatures and comprises a series of parallel ferrite laths tures, which is depended on the composition and cooling
separated by continuous or semi-continuous carbide layers rate as well. This type of microstructure could be formed
or carbide-particle arrays, and lower bainite (lath bainite) not only in the upper region of bainitic transformation
forms at lower temperatures, in which the ferrite takes temperature range, but also in the temperature range of
the form of laths or plates and contains an intra-ferritic dis- proeutectoid transformation. The former is termed as gran-
tribution of carbide particles (usually at an angle of ular bainite with the matrix of upper bainitic ferrite,
approximate 55–60° to the long axle of the ferrite). The whereas the latter is termed as granular structure with the
transition between these two forms is not always sharply matrix of equiaxial ferrite of Widmanstatten ferrite [22–
defined (though 350 °C is a typical transition point for 25]. Although both show morphology with some similarity
most steels) and microstructures may contain elements of under optical microscopy (Fig. 2), they are noticeably dif-
each. The variation in product form has led to description ferent in several aspects. The granular bainite produces sur-
of bainite as a non-lamellar, non-cooperative two-phase face relief during its transformation, but it does not posses
eutectoid product from diffusion school [17], in distinct
contrast with the pearlite that forms at higher tempera-
tures. In fact there exist many other forms of much com-
plex bainite in steels, which raises extensive controversies
between different ‘‘schools of thought’’.
When the steel contains some carbide-inhibitor ele-
ments, such as silicon and aluminum, bainite can be com-
posed by bainitic ferrite and retained austenite, without
carbide precipitation. Although, according to Aaronson’s
definition [17], it should be ruled out of bainite catalogue
due to lack of eutectoid reaction, it is called as carbide-free
bainite from Fang’s [7] group, as shown in Fig. 1. The car-
bon is enriched in retained austenite due to kinetics of pre-
cipitation, whereas ferrite contains equilibrium carbon
content. From shear school, it is termed as meta-bainite Fig. 2. Optical microscopy observation of (a) granular bainite and (b)
by Kang et al. [18], which indicates that it is in the primary granular structure formed in an Fe–0.12C–3.0Mn–0.001B (wt%) alloy
stage of bainite formation and contains supersaturated car- austenized at 920 °C and continuous cooled at (a) high and (b) low rate.
 Z.-G. Yang, H.-S. Fang / Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science 9 (2005) 277–286 279

the characteristics of IPS type. The K–S orientation rela- use. One is the generalized microstructure definition,
tionship is observed between the ferrite and austenite, wherein bainite is the product of a non-lamellar, competi-
and the habit plane is {1 1 1}c. During the formation of tive mechanism of eutectoid decomposition in which both
equiaxial ferrite in granular structure, surface relief is not eutectoid phases form by diffusional nucleation and
produced. The shape of growing ferrite is irregular and growth. The overall reaction kinetics definition describes
usually it possesses curved boundary with the parent phase. bainite in ferrous terms on the basis of incomplete transfor-
There is no strict orientation relationship between the fer- mation of bainite as the isothermal temperature
rite with austenite. The nucleation and growth of the gran- approaches the upper limit of the bainite C-curve. On the
ular structure is controlled by a diffusional process. Strictly surface relief definition, bainite is a plate-shaped product
speaking, granular structure does not belong to bainite at with an invariant plane strain upheaval when formed at a
all [26]. free surface. All the definitions of bainite have its limits,
Recently one of some exciting developments in wrought and the present authors proposed a definition of bainite
and welded steel technology has involved chaotic acicular in steel as the intermediate temperature decomposition
ferrite nucleated on nonmetallic inclusions and attracted product of austenite in the form of plate or lath shaped fer-
extensive attentions about its transformation mechanism rite with (or without) carbides precipitated from austenite
[27–30]. When there are some defects such as nonmetallic and accompanying surface relief effect [7].
inclusions, precipitates or high density dislocations inside
the austenite grains in a low carbon (ultra-low carbon) 3. Thermodynamics of bainitic transformation
steel, some ferrite of Widmanstatten morphology may
present not only from the grain boundaries but also on A series of theoretical works by Hsu et al. [36–40] on the
these defects inside the austenite grains. This is called acic- thermodynamic approach of the driving force for bainite
ular ferrite (the true shape of that is of a lenticular plate transformation in ferrous alloys have shown that both
actually), which is ascribed to proeutectoid ferrite rather the total driving force and the driving force for nucleation
than bainite from diffusion school, however, it is treated for c ! a + c1 are much larger than that for c ! a 0 (with
as intragranular nucleated bainite from shear school, since the same composition). For example, the driving force
it is believed to be formed by a displacive transformation for nucleation for c ! a + c1 of Fe–2at%C at 327 °C
[31,32]. Acicular ferrite does not grow in sheaves because exceeds that for c ! a 0 about 1000 J/mol, as shown in
their development is stifled by impingement between plates Fig. 3(a). Ko et al. [4] suggested that the decomposition
nucleated independently at adjacent sites [33]. of the supersaturated a 0 to less-saturated ferrite a00 and
The nomenclature of bainite is so complicated that cementite could increase the driving force for the transfor-
0
there are many morphologies forms of bainite in addition, mation. However, DGc!a of the Fe–3.5at%C alloy at Bs
such as inverse bainite, which involves the formation of (520 °C, bainite start temperature), is nearly 85 J/mol,
00
cementite rather than ferrite as the primary phase; colum- the calculated DGc!a þFe3 C is 266 J/mol supposing the
00
nar bainite, which is a non-lamellar aggregate of cementite carbon in a is 1 at% (the lowest limit), the sum of both
and ferrite in the shape of an irregular and slightly elon- is only 181 J/mol. The critical driving force for the mar-
gated colony; pearlitic bainite, which contains alloy car- tensite transformation in Fe–C is about 1000 J/mol. The
bide (M7C3) instead of cementite; grain boundary lower driving force for the shear at Bs will be lower, but it may
bainite, which decorate the austenite grain surfaces, giving not be lower than 500–600 J/mol. Such a small driving
the appearance of allotriomorphs ferrite but with much force as 181 J/mol seems difficult to induce a shear
higher hardness [33]; bainite in the morphology of mar- transformation.
tensite, such as triangle, cross, or N-shape bainite etc. The treatment for Fe–C alloys can be extended to low
[13]. From the viewpoint of shear mechanism, columnar alloy Fe–Xi–C steels by applying the effect of alloying ele-
and pearlitic bainite are misnormers simply due to that ments on DG as suggested by Zener [41], thus the maximum
they grow by a reconstructive transformation. A bainite DGc!aþc1 for different alloy steels can be calculated assum-
morphology map superimposes upon a section through ing the equilibrium phase diagram composition, as shown
the equilibrium Fe–C–Mn phase diagram at 2.5wt%Mn in Fig. 3(b) [77] in comparison with the shear–strain energy
was obtained [34], which indicates the temperature-carbon We. It can be seen that the maximum driving force is insuf-
composition coordinates with the morphological transi- ficient to compensate for the shear–strain energy. From
tions between various species of bainite observed both these calculations, the bainite formation by a shear mecha-
by optical microscopy and TEM, such as upper bainite, nism is thermodynamically impossible [8].
lower bainite, nodular bainite, elongated nodular bainite Thermodynamic analysis for shear formation of bainitic
and inverse bainite. ferrite was conducted on the basis of carbon-depleted
It is seen that based on different schools of the overall region in austenite [42]. The driving force was calculated
picture of the bainite transformation, the definition of bai- to increase with the reduction of carbon concentration to
nite is not identical at all. As summarized by Aaronson [35] an absolute value of 470–1200 J/mol in Fe–C alloys at Bs
in 1993 China national symposium on phase transforma- temperature, whereas the shear–strain energy in the order
tions, three different definitions of bainite are in widespread of 600–1000 J/mol [43]. This indicates that the shear
280 Z.-G. Yang, H.-S. Fang / Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science 9 (2005) 277–286

Fig. 3. (a) Calculated driving force for bainite nucleation in Fe–1, 2, 4at%C alloys; (b) comparison of the driving force for bainite formation with the
shear–strain energy (solid line) at Bs temperature in various alloy steels.

mechanism of bainitic formation in carbon-depletion zone

is thermodynamically feasible within the whole tempera-
ture range of bainitic reaction. However, even the nucle-
ation on the carbon-depletion zone occurs, it is not likely
to be stable and capable of growth, since the high carbon
concentration in the nearby region reduces the driving
force significantly [14].

4. Kinetics of bainitic transformation

The kinetics of bainite formation brings much contro-

versy between two schools, especially the incomplete
transformation phenomena of bainite in some Mo, Cr, or
Mn-containing steels near Bs temperature, as shown in
Fig. 4. The TTT curve shows a bay shape between proeu- Fig. 4. TTT curve and Mn enrichment ratio vs temperature in an Fe–C–
tectoid ferrite and bainite formation temperature region. Mn alloy. Ra/c is enrichment factor of Mn in a/c interface: Ra/c = XMn
From the viewpoint of shear mechanism, accumulated (interface)/XMn (average), while XMn (interface) represents the content of
transformation strain energy is taken to bring transforma- Mn in a/c interface, and XMn (average) represents the average content of
Mn in bulk alloy. Ra and Rc denote the enrichment factors of Mn in ferrite
tion to halt prior to the metastable equilibrium proportion
and austenite, respectively.
of ferrite. The greater the undercooling below the Bs, the
larger the driving force available to overcome transforma-
tion strain energy and thus the larger the fraction of bainite A still active concept from shear school is the spinodal
formation when stasis is reached. However, this mechanism decomposition and resulted carbon-depletion regions lying
fails to explain the considerable composition dependence of below the T0 temperature, although it is proved to be unfa-
incomplete transformation [35]. The transformation kinet- vorable from thermodynamics [45]. By scanning Auger
ics in Fe–C alloys has so far not proved to show any pres- microscopy study on the Fe–0.65C–1.94Si–0.91Mn (wt%)
ence of this phenomenon. Even in Fe–0.06, 0.19C–1.8Mo during incubation period of bainitic transformation, obvi-
(wt%) alloys, both of which show a significant bay in the ous change of carbon occurs in austempering specimens
TTT curve, the bainite transformation stops only for a was indicated. The pre-bainitic transformation relates to
finite amount of time before resuming and going to com- the formation of carbon-depleted region, which exists near
pletion. Finally austenite is completely transformed to bai- the area of grain boundaries and within austenite grains
nite, as shown in Fig. 5 [44]. because of diffusion and clustering of carbon [46]. Carbon
 Z.-G. Yang, H.-S. Fang / Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science 9 (2005) 277–286 281

reduced to the level of that in the bulk alloy, growth ceases

and remains halted until the precipitation of Mo2C at inter-
phase boundaries [48]. Mn has a special redistribution rule
in overcooling austenite transformation. The experimental
results of Mn enrichment factors in a low carbon Mn–B
steel are shown in Fig. 4 [49]. No visible difference is found
concerning Mn concentration between a and c phases,
while there is a distinct enrichment in the a/c interface, in
accord with negligible partition local equilibrium (NP-
LE) [7]. The concentration spike of Mn is bound to cause
pining-up effect on a/c interface movement, i.e. solute
drag-like effect. It is solute drag-like effects that prompt
the formation of the ‘‘bay’’ shape at about 600 °C of
c ! a transformation curve (see Fig. 4).
Fig. 5. The kinetics of bainite formation of Fe–0.06C–1.8Mo (wt%) alloy
at 600 °C and Fe–0.19C–1.8Mo (wt%) alloy at 585 °C.
5. Bainitic carbide precipitation

pile-ups in austenite surrounding ferrite plates have been Carbide precipitation within bainite is associated with
invoked to explain the incompleteness of transformation, ferrite (a) growth and the resultant carbon redistribution
however, stasis can occur even in the absence of carbon during reaction. It was reported that bainitic carbides
enrichment of the untransformed austenite. The isothermal nucleate within supersaturated ferrite both in lower bainite
internal friction measurements on an Fe–0.17C–0.9W– [50] and upper bainite [51], however, Fig. 6 [6,7,52] shows
1.4Cr–4.2Ni (wt%) alloy as well as non-ferrous alloys that most carbides precipitate inside the austenite (c) in
reveal that there are structural changes within the incuba- front of the riser of superledges (indicated by letter a, b,
tion period of bainitic formation, being independent of c, d, g, f in Fig. 6(a)), which parallel with each other
the carbon diffusion. The so-called pre-bainitic transforma- approximately and taper from a/c interface to austenite,
tion within the incubation period is actually the nucleation as schematically shown in Fig. 6(c). After nucleation, the
process of bainite [47]. carbides grow competitively with the ferrite and may be
The solute drag-like effect (and sometimes solute drag surrounded by the ferrite, according to the rate of lateral
effect) is introduced to explain the incompleteness transfor- growth of ferrite compared with that of carbide growth
mation of bainite from the diffusion school. The carbide- [53]. In some cases, the rapid immigration of ledges of fer-
formation alloy elements, such as Mo, accumulate at the rite results in the bainitic carbides entrapped inside the fer-
advancing interphase boundaries, and reduce the activity rite, as indicated in Fig. 6(b).
of carbon in austenite near the interface and ferrite growth The wedge-shaped carbides in Fig. 6(a) are formed
driving force correspondingly. When the carbon activity is because the carbon concentration decreases as its diffusion

Fig. 6. (a) and (d) TEM dark field of bainitic cementite in Fe–2.2C–12.2Cr–0.3Si–0.3Mn and Fe–1.0C–3.88Cr (wt%), (b) TEM bright field of bainitic
cementite in Fe–1.0C–3.88Cr and (c) sketches of carbide precipitation process model.
282 Z.-G. Yang, H.-S. Fang / Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science 9 (2005) 277–286

distance in austenite increases. Some carbides precipitate indeed. On the other hand, the measured habit plane is
inside the austenite film between subplates (indicated by quite scattering for different steels, which disagrees with
letter h, i, j in Fig. 6(a)) or subunits (see Fig. 6(d)). Gener- the shear mechanism [58].
ally, carbides tend to keep special orientation relationship The results [50] on carbides precipitated in the isother-
with the austenite so as to decrease the carbide/austenite mal lower bainite and the tempered martensite show that
interfacial energy. two groups of e carbides exist in the lower bainite, they
keep a Jack orientation relationship with the bainitic fer-
6. Crystallography of bainite rite, but no fixed and unique orientation relationship with
austenite matrix. The habit plane of e carbide was deter-
The orientation relationship between bainitic ferrite, mined to be {1 0 0}b. This result seems to indicate that
austenite and carbides in bainite microstructure has been the e carbide is precipitated from the bainitic ferrite, and
studied extensively in comparison with martensite. There the transformation of bainite has the features of shear in
are K–S and N–W orientation relationships between the analogy to the tempered martensite. Other early works
interface of upper bainite with retained austenite by high [59,60] indicated that carbides keep Pitsch orientation rela-
resolution electronic microscopy analysis, as shown in tionship with austenite or Bagaryatskii orientation rela-
Fig. 7 [54]. The indexing results of electronic diffraction pat- tionship with ferrite. The measured scattering orientation
tern proved [1 0 0]a1//[1 1 0]c//[1 1 1]a2, (0 1 1)a1//(1 1 1)c// relationship of carbides do not seem to provide enough
(1 1 0)a2, and [1 1 1]a//[1 1 0]c, (1 1 0)a//(1 1 1)c (a1 and valuable information about whether the carbides precipita-
a2 represent two neighbor bainitic ferrite separated by tion from austenite or ferrite, due to the complex austenite/
retained austenite film). Some works [55,56] have shown ferrite relationship [58].
that the lower bainite keeps G–T orientation relationship The studies on bainite crystallography have achieved in
with austenite and the habit plane is close to {11, 7, 15}f in some cases obvious similarity between bainite and martens-
an Fe–0.37C–2.09Si–1.77Mn–0.48Mo (wt%) alloy, which ite, however, even it follows the phenomena theory of mar-
diverges about 6.6° from that for lath martensite, (3.12, tensite crystallography, the bainite reaction is not
2.88, 4.90)f. Both the habit planes belong to {3 5 9}f. The necessarily occurred by shear mechanism, as martensite
bainite plates are related to each other by a relative rotation [61].
of about 54.7° or 60° about the normal to their common
plane {1 1 0}b, which results in an approximate {1 1 2}b twin 7. Midrib and twin in bainite
relationship between adjacent plates. The orientation rela-
tionship and habit pane of the lower bainite are similar to The midrib in bainite was first observed by Liu et al. [62]
that of lath-martensite in this study. However, the habit in a steel containing silicon, and always presents in lower
plane are reported to be (1 2 2)f and (1 2 1)f in alloyed steels bainite in high carbon steels [63,64]. Midrib in a medium
[57]. carbon low alloy cast steel is reported to be [65] a single
It should be noted [56] that the difference between K–S phase bainitic ferrite, with different contrast from that of
and N–W orientation relationship is only 5.26°, and the G– matrix bainite under optical microscopy and SEM as
T relationship is in the middle of K–S and N–W orienta- shown in Fig. 8. The first plate midrib may nucleate by
tion relationship (2.6° from each). The experimental data shear in a transgranular way and the following bainite
are not very much different for the orientation relationship may be formed from the midrib by sympathetic nucle-
ation-ledgewise growth mechanism.
In an Fe–0.95C–1.93Mn (wt%) alloy [34], a single, lar-
gely carbide-free ferrite plate forms the ‘‘spine’’ of a lower
bainite sheaf. Secondary ferrite plates then form predomi-
nantly at one broad face of the spine by edge-to-face sym-
pathetic nucleation, with broad faces lying at about 55–60°
angle to the longitudinal axis of the spine.
Twin sub-structures has been observed in bainitic mid-
ribs in lower meta-bainite in silicon-containing cast steel
[66]. The twins both in midribs and in retained austenite
are regarded as deformation twins formed by coordinating
uniform shear. The twins in bainitic ferrite are inherited in
retained austenite and the twin planes correspond to the
interface ledges. The ledges can not migrate along side
direction of broad face from this study [66]. The twin ori-
entation relationship between upper bainitic subplates has
been reported [67] as well as in lower bainitic ferrite. The
Fig. 7. High resolution image of bainitic ferrite and austenite with K–S bainitic ferritic laths are composed of fine subplates which
orientation relationship. are namely fine twin subplates. High resolution TEM
 Z.-G. Yang, H.-S. Fang / Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science 9 (2005) 277–286 283

and lower bainite have ultra-fine structures (indicated by

dots and arrows). The sizes of subunits and sub-subunits
are about 200 nm and 20 nm in width, respectively. The
appearance of sub-subunits within the STM images is pos-
sibly due to residual austenite films since abundant Si in the
experimental steels retards carbide precipitation and is
favorable for austenite films to survive during austemper-
ing. The ultra-fine structures could be relevant to the for-
mation mechanism of bainite, which will be discussed in
detail in Section 10.

9. Surface relief associated with bainite formation

Many observations on surface relief associated with bai-

nite transformation usually concern a surface effect of a
whole plate, which may be ambiguous due to the presence
of the substructures of bainite plate. It is necessary to delin-
Fig. 8. Bainitic midrib of transgranular formation (M-M) in an Fe–2.0C– eate the nature of bainite relief based on that of the mini-
2.1Cr–2.0Mo–2.1Mn–2.2Si (wt%) cast steel: (a) optical micrograph, (b) mal structural unit. The surface relief of the tip of a
SEM image. lower bainite plate in a matrix of retained austenite is pre-
sented in Fig. 10(a) [70–72]. Its corresponding 3-dimen-
images exactly determined that the widths of the most sional morphology and the surface profile along line AA 0
smallest fine twin subplates are only 2–3 nm. in it are presented in Fig. 10(b) and (d), respectively. All
Although the midribs and twin orientation relationship these pictures show that the integral relief (corresponding
are typical characteristics in medium-high carbon martens- to several subplates indicated by letter A) is obviously
ite, the observation of them in bainite does not certainly tent-shaped. However, it is inhomogeneous (dotted in
render the same transformation mechanism of bainite as Fig. 10(a)) and consists of a group of small reliefs, corre-
martensite [67]. sponding to ultra-fine structures mentioned above. The
rectangular area in Fig. 10(a) is magnified and presented
8. Ultra-fine structure of bainite in Fig. 10(c). The surface profile, along line BB 0 in
Fig. 10(c), is shown in Fig. 10(e), which indicates there is
As is extensively observed, bainite plate in steels consists only one sub-subunit across the line and the profile in
of subplates [33]. With the improvement of analysis Fig. 10(e) has not been confused by the proximity of other
method, fine structures of the subplate are revealed recently sub-subunits. Thus it may exhibit the true shape of bainite
[6,7]. The smaller plates within the subplate are termed sub- relief. Obviously the smallest relief is rather tent-shaped
units. The subunits are not always the smallest structural than invariant-plane-strain-typed.
units and they may be composed of sub-subunits, i.e.,
ultra-fine structures [68]. 10. Sympathetic nucleation and ledgewise growth mechanism
Scanning tunnel microscope (STM), which has a vertical
resolution of ca. 0.01 nm and a lateral resolution of ca. Sympathetic nucleation of a plate is defined as ‘‘the
0.1 nm, has been employed to observe ultra-fine structures nucleation of a precipitate crystal at an interphase bound-
of bainite since 1994 [68]. Some STM images [68,69] are ary of a crystal of the same phase when these crystals differ
presented in Fig. 9(a)–(c), which show that both upper in composition from their matrix phase throughout the

Fig. 9. Ultra-fine structures: (a) STM image of the lower bainite in Fe–1.0C–2.0Si–4.0Cr (wt%) alloy: 1150 °C/10 min and austempering at 300 °C/2 h and
(b) locally magnified result of the upper-right area of (a). (c) STM image of the upper bainite in an Fe–0.5C–3.8Cr–1.4Si (wt%) alloy: 1150 °C/5 min and
austempering at 365 °C/15 min.
284 Z.-G. Yang, H.-S. Fang / Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science 9 (2005) 277–286

Fig. 10. The surface relief of (a) a lower bainite plate in an Fe–2.17C–12.18Cr (wt%) alloy: 1100 °C/10 min, austempering at 300 °C/30 h, (b) (a) in three
dimensions, (c) sub-subunits in three dimensions (locally magnified rectangular area in (a)). (d) The profile along AA 0 in (b); (e) the profile along BB 0 in (c).

transformation process’’ and includes three types of face- will be excluded into the matrix at the front of the migrat-
to-face (FTF), edge-to-edge (ETE) and edge-to-face ing ledge and thus the carbon concentration profile will
(ETF) [35]. This nucleation process is observed frequently change from l1 to l2, and then to l3, i.e., the carbon gradi-
in ferrite growth in austenite [52,73], which is rationalized ent in c decreases and then the lateral migration rate of
in Fig. 11 under the assumption of ledgewise growth mech- ledge decreases. Thus, the nucleus on the broad face of fer-
anism. The migrating interface is showed in Fig. 11(a). In rite will not be overrun by growth ledge and survive. The
the course of thickening of a plate, the carbon concentra- superledge of bainite formation in steel was firstly observed
tion of ferrite and austenite in the vicinity of the interface by Hsu et al. [74]. A quantitative analysis has been made
around a growth ledge are under para-equilibrium condi- recently [75], which shows that sympathetic nucleation
tion and represented by Ca/c and Cc/a, respectively (see associated with ledgewise growth of ferrite is favorable
Fig. 11(b)). The growth of a is completely controlled by under the condition of a higher carbon concentration and
volume diffusion of carbon in c. A large amount of carbon a lower reaction temperature (see Fig. 11(f)).

Fig. 11. Schematics of sympathetic nucleation-ledgewise growth model: (a) nucleation on the broad face of growth ledge, (b) concentration profile of a/c
interface area, (c) and (d) multilayer structural models of lower and upper bainite and (e) 3-D structural model of lower bainitic plate. (f) The variation of
s/t with the reaction temperature and carbon content (s: the incubation time, t: the time needed for a riser across ledge spacing; s/t < 1, sympathetic
nucleation is favorable).
 Z.-G. Yang, H.-S. Fang / Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science 9 (2005) 277–286 285

Fig. 12. SEM dual-surface micrograph of (a) upper bainite (950 °C/5 min, 350 °C/23 min), (b) transitional bainite (950 °C/5 min, 350 °C/23 min) and (c)
lower bainite (950 °C/5 min, 280 °C/23 min) in an Fe–0.4C–2.5Mn–1.4Si (wt%) alloy.

Sympathetic nucleation is considered to be responsible are still necessary for a deep understanding of all kinds
for the various arrangement of fine structural units within of the bainite with different composition and morphology.
a bainite plate or lath. At relatively elevated temperature
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