Application of a Non-Isothermal Numerical-Analytical Model to Determine the Kinetics of Austenite Formation in a Silicon Alloyed Steel

A non-isothermal transformation model was proposed to determine the austenite formation kinetics in a steel alloyed with 2.6% wt. Si by dilatometric analysis, considering that the nucleation mechanism does not change with the heating rate. From the dilatometric analysis, it was observed that the austenite formation occurs in two stages; critical temperatures, degree and austenite formation rate were determined. The activation energies associated with each of the stages were obtained employing the Kissinger method (226.67 and 198.37 kJ·mol−1 for the first and second stage) which was used in concert with the austenite formation rate in the non-isothermal model as a first approximation, with acceptable results in the second stage, but not in the first due to the activation energies magnitude. Then, the activation energies were adjusted by minimizing the minimal squares error between estimated and experimental austenite formation degree, obtaining values of 158.50 kJ·mol−1 for the first and 165.50 kJ·mol−1 for the second stage. These values are consistent with those reported for the diffusion of carbon in austenite-FCC in silicon steels. With these activation energies it was possible to predict the austenite formation degree with a better level of convergence when implementing the non-isothermal model.