Scripta Metallurgica et Materialia, 12(31), p. 1639-1644
DOI: 10.1016/0956-716x(94)90456-1
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Order on Fe-Cr-C austenites was first demonstrated by Arbuzov, Golub and Karpets, who observed extra reflections in single crystal X-ray diffraction experiments. The reflections were attributed to an Fe[sub 7]Cr, face centered cubic superlattice with lattice parameter a[sub [gamma]] = 0.7200 nm. These results were obtained in alloys within a broad range of compositions and confirmed in the martensite produced after liquid nitrogen quenching of the samples. The maximum relative superlattice reflection intensities were found in an Fe-8wt%Cr-1.2wt%C alloy, solubilized at 1473K. The ordering of carbon could not be assured from the X-ray diffraction data due to experimental limitations of the technique, but the authors argue that some kind of short-range ordering'' of carbon in the neighborhood of chromium should be expected due to thermodynamic considerations. The aim of this work is to further investigate the order structure of the austenite of an iron-chromium-carbon alloy using neutron diffraction and, with the help of the Moessbauer results, to determine whether or not the carbon is also ordered in Fe[sub 7]Cr superlattice.