Martensite Transformation Intergrain and Intragrain Autocatalysis in Fe-Ni alloys

The present work is based on the description of classical microstructure descriptors of the transformation and on generally accepted concepts regarding the martensitic transformation in iron base alloys.

Present work agrees with the view that the autocatalysis is a means by which the martensite transformation promotes further nucleation and growth. Autocatalysis induces the nucleation and growth of secondary plates in addition to the relatively small number of primary nucleation sites and their corresponding primary plates. We demonstrate that autocatalysis can be factored out into intragrain and intergrain components.