The influence of diffusion of carbon in ferrite as well as in austenite on a model of reaustenitization from ferrite/cementite mixtures in Fe-C steels

The kinetics of formation of austenite from ferrite and cementite mixtures has been modelled by assuming the local equilibrium at the planar phase interfaces. The exact solutions to the diffusion equations governing the volume diffusion of carbon in austenite and ferrite are presented. The concurrent motions of the two interfaces are calculated via solving a set of transcendental equations derived from the flux balance conditions. At low isothermal transformation temperatures, it is found that the time required for reaustenitization is slightly greater than the time previously calculated with no diffusion of carbon in ferrite.