Simulation of the Austenitization of Ferrite-Carbide Microstructures by means of the Cellular-Automaton Method (CA)

To achieve maximum hardness and to avoid retained austenite during surface hardening processes, homogeneous austenitization is desired. The necessary temperature to achieve this depends on the heating conditions and the initial microstructure. Its measurement is generally tedious and no distinct models are available to model the process. Therefore, a simulation model of the austenitization process based on a 2-D cellular automaton was developed and analyzed. The model predicts the austenitization kinetics as well as the homogenization temperature for a given microstructure and heating process. The model is able to predict the characteristic dependencies that are known from the experiments at least in a qualitative way.