Under-stoichiometric cementite in decomposing binary Fe-C pearlite exposed to rolling contact fatigue

Abstract In this study, we investigate the fundamentals of deformation-driven cementite decomposition during rolling contact fatigue in a binary Fe-0.74C (wt.%) steel with pearlitic microstructure. To reveal the involved nano-scale mechanisms, we apply transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography, as well as the combination of both techniques on the same probe volume for correlative structural and chemical analysis. After ~32,500 individual ball contacts under a nominal Hertzian contact stress of ~1,250 MPa, cementite lamellae are consistently depleted in carbon (C) down to ~20 at.%, which is a reduction of 20% in comparison to the original stoichiometric composition of 25 at.% before deformation. By electron diffraction on atom probe tip volumes, we show that this under-stoichiometric cementite still maintains its crystal structure. The potential effect of temperature increase during rolling contact fatigue on cementite decomposition is addressed by carrying out annealing experiments at 150°C and 250°C for 30 minutes after rolling contact fatigue. Our results show that slip transmission across cementite lamellae is primarily responsible for the observed C-depletion in cementite. We quantitatively discuss slip transmission from ferrite to cementite using slip trace analysis and correlate the amount of slip activity with the observed C-depletion. In this way, we explain the formation of under-stoichiometric cementite by combined slip transmission and solute drag by dislocations, where C is transported out of cementite by dislocation gliding through cementite lamellae. Only afterward, cementite decomposition in terms of phase dissolution is suggested to occur by the dislocation-shuffle mechanism.