Effect of Prior Cold Deformation on the Stability of Retained Austenite in GCr15 Bearing Steel

In this work, the effect of prior cold deformation on the stability of retained austenite in GCr15 bearing steel was investigated after quenching and tempering treatment. The thermal stability was evaluated by calculating thermal activation energy for decomposition of retained austenite using differential scanning calorimeter. The mechanical stability was investigated according to the strain-induced martensitic transformation behavior of retained austenite under the standard compression testing. It is found that the prior cold deformation not only accelerates the carbide dissolution during the austenitization process but also contributes to the carbon partitioning in the tempering stage due to the higher density of phase boundaries, which results in the improvement of the thermal stability of retained austenite. Due to the enhanced carbide dissolution, the higher carbon content in the prior austenite will intensify the isotropic strain of martensitic transformation. As a consequence, the film-like retained austenite is likely to form under a higher hydrostatic pressure and thus shows a higher mechanical stability. Additionally, it is noteworthy that the benefits of the prior cold deformation to the stability of retained austenite would be saturated when the cold deformation degree is larger than 40%.