Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy Study of Carbon-Vacancy Interaction in Low-Temperature Bainite.

Nano-scale investigations of bainitic structures formed at temperatures below 350 °C have shown that the bainitic ferrite lattice is super-saturated in carbon. A high density of intrinsic defects would be playing a part in the carbon-supersaturation levels detected. In this work, the role of C-vacancy complexes on carbon-supersaturation in low temperature bainite is investigated by means of Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy. Results reveal the presence of a significant amount of monovacancies in the structures that plays an important role on the formation of carbon clusters in the ferrite lattice of nano-scale bainitic structures.