Iron Phase Diagram

Plain Iron Carbon Steels

Introduction This page includes notes on iron and what happens when iron /carbon mixtures are cooled from liquid to solid. The notes are based on the Iron Phase Diagram (equilibrium diagram ). A "Phase" is a form of material having characteristic structure and properties. It is a form of the material which has identifiable composition, structure and boundaries separating it from other phases in the material volume. The diagram below shows shows the phases present when when Fe-C alloys (C up to 7%) are cooled from liquid to solid. The left side of the diagram represents pure iron and the right hand of the diagram represents an alloy with 6,67% C. which result on cooling in the formation of Cementite. This is a intermetallic compound (iron carbide-Fe3 C) which although not 100% stable is but is to all practical purposes a stable phase. The phase diagram shown is therefore a metastable phase.

Note: Different reference sources indicate the Eutectoid point at 0,8% C and 0,77% C. Iron Forms Iron can exist in three forms:

Iron Phase Diagram

... BCC crystal with crystal dimension a = 2,86 Angstrom exists at temperatures up to 910oC ... FCC crystal with crystal dimension a = 3,65 Angstrom exists at temperature range 910oC to 1403oC ... BCC crystal with crystal dimension a = 2,93 Angstrom exists at temperature range 1403oC to 1535oC Solid Phases The phased diagram includes four solid phases Ferrite ..The solid solution of carbon in iron. At 0% C this is pure iron. BCC crystal structure. The maximum solubility of carbon in iron is 0,02% at 723oC. At 0 oC temperature the solubility falls to 0,008%. The carbon atoms are located in the crystal interstices. Austenite The solid solution of carbon in iron is called austenite . This has a FCC crystal structure with a high solubility for carbon compared with ferrite. The solubility reaches a maximum of 2,08% at 1148oC . The solubility decreases to 0,8% at 723 oC The carbon atoms are dissolved interstitially. The difference in solubility between the austenite and Ferrite is the basis for the hardening of steels Cementite This is an intermetallic compound which contains 6,67% C and 93,3% Fe. Cementite is a hard brittle compound with and orthorhombic crystal structure each unit cell has 12 Fe atoms and 4 C atoms Ferrite.. This is a solid solution of carbon in iron and has a BCC crystal structure. The maximum solubility or C in Fe is 0,09% at 1495oC. This has no real practical significance in engineering. Lever Rule The lever rule can be applied to any phase region an provides an indication of the proportions of the constituent parts at any point on the phase diagram

Applying the lever rule to the eutectoid point (0,80% C at 723oC ) Wt% Ferrite = 100 (6,67 -0,8)/ 6,67- 0,02) = 88% Wt% Cementite = 100 (0,8- 0,02) /6,67- 0,02) = 12%