Papers by Author: Alain Hazotte

Abstract: We elaborated two carbide-free bainitic steels with different microstructures through specific heat treatments and alloy design. EBSD analysis was used to point out major differences in these microstructures. In-situ characterizations of the bainitic transformation were performed by high energy synchrotron diffraction to go further into the study of each phase characteristics. The elaborated microstructures exhibited various phase fractions of bainitic ferrite, retained austenite and blocks of martensite and retained austenite. Moreover, the volume fraction of retained austenite increased with higher austempering temperatures. On the other hand, the austempering temperatures showed a strong influence on the kinetics of the bainitic transformation. Isothermal transformation under Ms showed a two stage transformation which led first to the formation of self-tempered martensite and then to bainitic ferrite. Furthermore, the evolution of the austenitic cell parameter showed enrichment in carbon ruled by diffusional mechanisms.

Abstract: Rapid cooling of TiAl-based alloy from α phase (disordered hexagonal, A3) generates  phase (ordered tetragonal, L1o) grains through massive transformation nucleating mostly over the α/α grain boundaries. This current work deals with the identification and the validation of different nucleation mechanisms during  massive transformation in TiAl-based alloys. Special attention has been given to the variant selection criteria for the nucleation of the massive structures along different types of α/α grain boundaries. The  massive domains formed along the grain boundaries were analysed using high resolution electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD). Statistical studies were made on different nucleation sites and different mechanisms are proposed. Two–dimensional studies of the nucleation mechanism suggest that the minimization of the interfacial energy could be the predominant criteria during the grain boundary nucleation. In order to verify this nucleation criterion in three-dimensions, serial sections were made and EBSD maps were taken and analysed in each section. The variant selection observed during the nucleation and the growth of the  massive grains is further discussed after getting a broader view under three-dimensional investigations.

Abstract: The orientations of the inherited tetragonal (resp. cubic) variants are calculated from the parent hcp orientation in the case of a strict orientation relation. The numbering of the variants is proposed, as well as the misorientations between them. Conversely, a method for calculating the parent hcp orientation from a sufficient number of inherited variants is proposed. It is based on orientation correlating and orientation averaging, and it is particularly useful when the inherited variants are not exactly related to the parent orientation by a strict orientation relation or when the orientations of the inherited volumes slightly vary at different locations of the variant. The method is illustrated by considering the a to g phase transformation taking place in TiAl-based alloys

Abstract: An original approach based on semi-automatic treatment of Kikuchi patterns collected by Transmission Electron Microscopy is used to analyse the a2 an g variant distributions in a quaternary TiAl-based alloy (Ti-48at.%Al-2%Cr-2%Nb), with two lamellar microstructures of different fineness. Statistic data analysis shows that neither g variant orientations nor interface misorientations are randomly distributed within a given grain. The largest deviation from randomness is observed for the coarser microstructure. We also pointed out the presence of g|g subboundaries between same but slightly misoriented variants, as well as the existence of some semicoherent g|g twins accommodated by dislocation lattices. The analysis of the misorientation distributions of g|g and g|a2|g interfaces suggests that a variant selection occurs during growth and coarsening stages of the a ® a2 + g transformation process.