TEM investigations on lath martensite substructure in quenched Fe-0.2C alloys

Highlights: • Twin can be lath martensite substructure in low-carbon steels. • Detwinning behavior occurs in an auto-tempering process during quenching. • Detwinning may result in the formation of twinned laths. • Detwinning may result in the laths with dislocation-like contrast as substructure. - Abstract: Lath martensite in low-carbon steels is the main microstructural feature in the quenched state, and dislocations have been generally recognized as the substructure of lath martensite. However, the effects of quenching conditions on the quenched substructure have not yet been fully understood. In the present work, a Fe-0.2C (wt%) alloy was selected for detailed investigations on the microstructural evolution at various austenitizing temperatures. Microstructural characterization was carried out by using a conventional transmission electron microscope (TEM). The substructure of lath martensite was found to vary with austenitizing temperature. In the 1200 °C-water-quenched (WQ) samples, twinned laths (two specific variants having a {112}<111>-type twin relationship) and a twinned region (laths with the twin structure as their substructure) can be observed. Almost all lath martensite with a high density of fine twins as its substructure can be obtained in the 1300 °C-WQ samples. The twins gradually disappear or detwinning-occurs during TEM observations carried out with in situ heating. A further increase in temperature results in the formation of twinned laths and then lath with dislocation-like contrasts or lines appears as the substructure. These results suggested that a completely twin structure can be the initial substructure of lath martensite, and lath with dislocation-like contrasts or lines as its substructure is most likely the auto-tempering result of twinning.