Influence of Carbon on the Microstructure Evolution and Hardness of Fe–13Cr–xC (x = 0–0.7 wt.%) Stainless Steel

The influence of carbon on the phase transformation behavior of stainless steels with the base chemical composition Fe–13Cr (wt.%), and carbon concentrations in the range of 0–0.7 wt.%, was studied at temperatures between −196 °C and liquidus temperature. Based on differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements, the solidification mode changed from ferritic to ferritic–austenitic as the carbon concentration increased. The DSC results were...