Sympathetic Nucleation of Ferrite
Configurations of ferrite crystals have been found in a plain carbon steel which
appear to have resulted from the nucleation of new ferrite crystals at the interphase
boundaries of previously formed crystals despite the high carbon concentrations which
necessarily develop at these boundaries. This phenomenon has been termed sympathetic
nucleation. An attempt has been made to reconcile the occurrence of sympathetic nu-
cleation with current nucleation theory.
by H. I. Aaronson and C. Wells
T H.IS investigation is one of a series on the forma-
tIOn of proeutectoid ferrite from austenite. From
the viewpoint of chemical composition, this reaction
consists of the nucleation and diffusional growth of
crystals of carbon-poor ferrite within a matrix of
carbon-rich austenite. The austenite adjacent to the
austenite-ferrite boundaries will be greatly enriched
in carbon, approximately to the value of the
1/ (ex + 1) equilibrium curve or its metastable ex-
trapolation at the temperature of transformation.
Those areas of austenite appreciably farther re-
moved from the growing ferrite, on the other hand,
will be relatively unaltered in composition, especi-
ally at the earlier stages of transformation. Since
rates of nucleation are considered to decrease ex-
ponentially with decreasing supersaturation,' the
frequency with which ferrite nuclei appear at
austenite-ferrite boundaries should be negligible in
relation to that at which they form in other regions
of the austenite. During this investigation, however,
many groupings of ferrite crystals have been found
which appear to have resulted from the nucleation
of ferrite at austenite-ferrite boundaries. This phen-
omenon has been given the name of sympathetic
nucleation. A number of micrographs of morphologi-
cal configurations caused by sympathetic nucleation
will be presented, after which an explanation for
this reaction will be proposed in terms of current
nucleation theory.
Some of the structures to be considered are com-
posed of bainite, an aggregate of ferrite and carbide,
rather than of ferrite. Since ferrite and bainite differ
only in that bainite forms under conditions which
result in the nucleation of carbides behind the ad-
vancing austenite-ferrite boundaries; it will usually
be unnecessary, for the purpose of this paper, to dis-
tinguish between the two reaction products.
All studies were performed on an electric furnace
steel (obtained from the Vanadium Alloy Steel Co.)
containing 0.29 pct C, 0.76 pct Mn, 0.25 pct Si, 0.005
pct P, and 0.007 pct S. The alloy was cast as a 150 Ib,
H. I. AARONSON, Junior Member AIME, is Research Metallur-
gist, and C. WELLS, Member AIME, is Principal Research Metallur-
gist, Metals Research Laboratory, Carnegie Institute of Technology,
Pittsburgh, Pa.
TP 4308E. Manuscript, Aug. 29, 1955. Cleveland Meeting, Octo-
ber 1956.
1216-JOURNAL OF METALS, OCTOBER 1956
7x7 in. cross section ingot and forged into bars 2x2
in. in cross section. These bars were homogenized for
48 hr at 1250°C in an Endo-Gas atmosphere. The
depth to which decarburization penetrated during
this heat treatment was determined by chemical and
microscopic analyses and the affected metal was
removed by machining. Specimens for isothermal
transformation studies were cut from the remaining
material; most of these specimens were ljzx¥4x1/16
in., though some with a thickness of 1/32 in. were
prepared for use at the shorter reaction times and
lower reaction temperatures.
Specimens were austenitized for 30 min at 1300°C,
isothermally reacted for various times at tempera-
tures ranging from 775° to 475°C, and then
quenched in iced water. The austenite grain sizes
within individual specimens ranged from ASTM
Nos. 1 through -4. A commercial heat-treating salt
which was continuously deoxidized by an immersed
graphite crucible served to minimize the loss of
carbon during austenitizing; thick covers of pow-
dered graphite and immersed graphite rods effec-
tively prevented decarburization in the lead pots
employed for the isothermal reaction treatments.
The heat-treated specimens were sectioned and
mounted in Bakelite. Following the completion of
standard grinding and mechanical polishing pro-
cedures, the specimens were electrolytically polished
with a Buehler-Waisman apparatus and etched in 2
pct nital.
Experimental Results
Rules of Evidence for Sympathetic Nucleation-On
the basis of observations made on a single plane of
polish, one precipitate crystal may be considered to
have been sympathetically nucleated at the inter-
phase boundary of another precipitate crystal when
the following conditions are fulfillE;d:
1) The sympathetically nucleated crystal is not
in contact with a grain boundary or a subboundary
in the matrix phase.
2) The shape, size, and location of the crystal at
whose boundary sympathetic nucleation occurred
(hereafter termed the base crystal) and the crystal
formed by sympathetic nucleation substantially pre-
clude the possibility that the plane of polish em-
ployed may have concealed the fact that both crys-
tals actually nucleated at a grain boundary or a sub-
boundary in the matrix phase.
TRANSACTIONS AIME
 3) It is improbable that the grain boundary
separating the sympathetically nucleated crystal
from its base crystal was created within a single
precipitate crystal (by polygonization, etc.) or
reached the observed position by migration within
the precipitate phase.
4) Rates of nucleation at intra granular sites are
low.
5) The total amount of transformation is rela-
tively small, especially in the matrix grain or grains
concerned.
In addition to. these requirements, it is also desir-
able that the configurations which are ascribed to
sympathetic nucleation do not have counterparts
among structures developed through the operation
of other mechanisms. Also, in view of the limitations
of currently available experimental techniques, it is
usually necessary that enough examples of a given
type of configuration be found to minimize the pos-
sibility that an uncommon accident, rather than
sympathetic nucleation, is responsible for the con-
figuration in question.
Configurations Resulting from Sympathetic Nuc1e-
ation-Sideplates on Widmanstaetten Stars: When
intragranular Widmanstaetten plates grow in more
than one direction from nuclei which developed
about a central locus, which is often and perhaps
always an inclusion, the resultant configuration may
be termed a Widmanstaetten star. Two of these con-
figurations are shown in Fig. 1. Since the Widman-
staetten star has no readily recognizable counter":
part among groupings of crystals nucleated at grain
boundaries, it is quite certain that the crystals of the
star are of intragranular origin. Similarly, the two
groups of sideplates,· labeled C in Fig. 1, which ter-
minate at component plates (labeled A) of the two
stars, bear no resemblance whatever to any config-
urations of plates resulting from nucleation at iso-
lated intragranular sites at reaction temperatures of
550°C and above. These groupings of parallel plates
are, instead, identical in overall form to those which
develop from interfaces, i.e., from austenite grain
boundaries and from rows of impinged grain bound-
ary ferrite crystals. Even the individual plates tend
to have the comparatively thick bases and narrow
tips which characterize individual crystals in con-
ventionally formed groups of sideplates. It thus ap-
pears that the sideplates in Fig. 1 nucleated at the
interphase boundaries of the plates in the Widman-
staetten stars which they abut, rather than at near-
by intragranular lattice defects.
The small percentage of ferrite in this specimen
and the large distance separating this field from the
nearest austenite grain boundary also serve to indi-
cate that the sideplate structures are the result of
sympathetic nucleation rather than of a nonrepre-
sentative plane of polish. The grain boundaries be-
tween the base and the sympathetically nucleated
plates, however, are very faint. Fig. 2, showing a
similar configuration of intragranular plates in
which the ferrite-ferrite boundaries are more satis-
factorily revealed, has therefore been included. In
order to reveal all of the boundaries due to sym-
pathetic nucleation in this structure, however, it was
necessary to over etch the specimen, employ oblique
illumination and a higher magnification, and focus
directly on the ferrite-ferrite boundaries. The light
etching behavior of most boundaries of this type is
probably due to the relatively low energies of these
boundaries, as suggested in the Discussion section of
this paper. On the other hand, ferrite-ferrite bound-
TRANSACTIONS AI ME
aries necessarily separate the plates which are in
contact in both Figs. 1 and 2, since Dube and Mehl'
have demonstrated that the crystallography of the
Kurdjumow and Sachs orientation and habit plane
relationships,' previously shown to be applicable to
proeutectoid ferrite,· will not permit a single ferrite
crystal to evolve plates parallel to more than one
octahedral austenite plane. Extended studies have
shown that the octahedral habit plane is the only
habit plane operative in this steel in the temperature
range 775° to 550°C; at 525°C and at lower temper-
atures in the range studied, another habit plane, as
yet unidentified, supplements but does not replace
the octahedral habit plane:
Fig. 3 shows a less orderly arrangement of side-
plates at a Widmanstaetten star. In view of the low
average density of intragranular crystals in this
specimen, the concentration of plates about the cen-
ter of the star appears to have resulted from the
prior presence of the star. Some of the sympathetic-
ally nucleated plates are pointed out by arrows. The
ferrite-ferrite boundaries, which are more easily
seen in this structure, suggest the presence of sym-
pathetic nucleation in several places where it might
not otherwise be suspected.
The type of structure illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2,
sympathetically nucleated groups of sideplates, de-
velops with some frequency, though it is not a prom-
inent feature of intragranular plate structures. The
type of intragranular sideplate arrangement ex-
emplified by Fig. 3, however, occurs quite generally
at temperatures at which stars develop in significant
numbers.
Sheaves: Fig. 4 shows a type of intragranular
structure which is often found at reaction tempera-
tures of 525°C and below. Careful examination of
these structures indicates that in almost every case
they are composed of several parallel plates in con-
tact. This observation is confirmed on similar struc-
tures viewed at higher magnification, as shown in
Fig. 5, though it is necessary to use for this purpose
the precipitation of bainitic carbides preferentially
at the boundaries between adjacent plates' to sup-
plement the often faint traces of these boundaries. *
• The approximate linearity of these boundaries indicates that
they are not merely subboundaries resulting from polygonization
induced by transformation stresses. Both light and electronmicro-
scopic observations indicate that ferrite subgrains in this steel are
polygonal in shape, as would be expected from the intricate and
varying pattern of the transformation stresses accompanying the
growth of the irregularly shaped ferrite crystals.
These groupings of intra granular plates may be
termed sheaves. Individual plates in a sheaf are
parallel to the same octahedral austenite plane; the
octahedral directions in adjacent plates, however,
are presumably parallel to different dodecahedral
directions in their common matrix habit plane.
The mechanism through which sheaves develop
appears to be the repeated sympathetic nucleation
of new plates against and parallel to the broad faces
of previously formed plates. Assuming that the ini-
tial plates of sheaves are nucleated approximately at
random, this mechanism is consistent with the fol-
lowing observations which have been made on the
structures and growth patterns of sheaves: 1) ad-
jacent plates within a sheaf are normally in contact
with each other over most of their lengths (Figs.
4 to 6); 2) the density of isolated intragranular plates
in the austenite regions between sheaves is quite
low, even at late stages of transformation (Figs. 7
and 8); 3) the average number of plates in a sheaf
increases with increasing isothermal reaction time
(compare Figs. 6 and 7); and 4) in specimens re-
OCTOBER 1956, JOURNAL OF METALS-1217