Zachary Breider, “Spheroidization Kinetics of Eutectoid Plain Carbon Steels”
Mentor: Benjamin Church, Materials Science & Engineering
Spheroidite is a microstructure of steel alloys which consists of sphere-like cementite (Fe3C) particles within a ferrite matrix. This microstructure can be achieved through appropriate heat treatment of bainitic, martensitic, and pearlitic steels. Producing spheroidite is a diffusion dependent process and is characterized by its long heat treatment times. The long processing times are detrimental to industrial producers in that they coincide with increased processing costs. A deeper understanding of the spheroidite heat treating process can therefore help in minimizing processing costs. In this study, various isothermal heat treatments were carried out at varying times and temperatures to track the progression of the formation of spheroidite of a 1074 steel. The samples were then prepared and characterized by their percentage of spheroidite formed. Using a series of data analysis techniques, it was possible to find the activation energy for the transformation into spheroidite. Using the activation energy, several assumptions were made about the kinetics of the spheroidite process that allow for a better prediction of the times necessary to complete this heat treatment in a minimum amount of time.
Hello, my name is Zachary Breider and I am a senior studying material science and engineering. I started my SURF project in September of 2020 and plan on continuing my research until I graduate this May. I would like to thank Dr. Church for being an amazing mentor and professor, and Charter Steel for providing me with more steel than I know what to do with. Thank you for listening to my research project and I hope you enjoy it.
Comments, questions, and suggestions are highly recommended.
Nice work, Zachary! The presentation was clean, very clear, and its usefulness and impact for industry were clearly conveyed. I appreciate the partnership with Charter Steel that allowed you some materials to work with! As a non-materials scientist I learned a lot about the methods used to explore processes that can change materials. I wondered if you could give some additional examples of the types of products that benefit from having spheroditic microstructures? I think you said bolts were one… are there other examples that you can give where this kind of process could really impact the function of the product? Thank you very much for sharing your research!