THERMOPLASTIC DEFORMATION OF LADLE-TREATED HADFIELD STEEL WITH FREE
CRACK SUSCEPTIBILITY
Mohamed. K. ElFawkhry
Central Metallurgical Research and Development Institute (CMRDI), Cairo 12422, Egypt
Copyright Ó 2021 American Foundry Society
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40962-020-00567-3
Abstract
Ladle treatment technology is expected to be a new
approach for prevailing over the hot crack susceptibility of
conventional high-manganese steel. The liquefaction and
solidification mechanisms of the conventional and ladle-
treated high-manganese steel were detected by DTA. Their
solidification structures were observed by optical micro-
scope and scanning electron microscope. Multistage
deformation process of the two steels was carried out by
using thermomechanical simulator (Bahr TTS-820) from
700 to 1200 °C. In addition, their thermoplastic character
was detected by dilatometer (DIL-805/D) from 800 to
1200 °C. On the other hand, TEM was used for explaining
the nucleation of cementite and austenite at magnesium
Introduction
High-manganese steel is considered as one of the most
applicable high-alloy steels for use in heavy-duty equip-
ment, mining equipment, and railway industries.1 Its
nominal chemical compositions are 1%-1.2%C, 11%-
14%Mn, and 0.5%-1% Si.2 With reference to its high
carbon and manganese content, the main structure of high-
manganese steel is austenite and needle network cementite
that is precipitated at 1050 °C during the solidification of
steel.2 Nowadays, this grade of steel has attracted much
attention of material designers in manufacturing of
advanced technologies, regarding to its high strength,
ductility, and wear resistance. However, its poor thermo-
plastic character is considered as the greatest challenge that
is being faced by this steel in order to produce engineering
parts from various hot work processes. While the cast
versions of these steels offer the benefits of more complex
shapes, for demanding applications the inherent quality
issues can limit its use. It has been observed that the hot
Received: 20 September 2020 / Accepted: 17 December 2020 /
Published online: 13 January 2021
1348
sulfide nuclei in ladle-treated high-manganese steel. The
results refer to the peculiar microstructure after ladle
treatment of high-manganese steel causes a great
enhancement in the hot forming character of high-man-
ganese steel in terms of crack susceptibility and flow stress.
In addition, the good formability of the ladle-treated high-
manganese steel was confirmed by comparing with the low-
carbon steel at hot working temperatures.
Keywords: high-manganese steel, ladle treatment
technology, hot working process, thermoplastic
deformations, crack susceptibility
deformed structure has performed much better than the as-
cast structure which commonly contains pin holes, blow
holes, and other casting defects. For instance, the hot
forged crossing can overload 300 tons, double of the load
afforded by the as-cast crossing of railway.3 Therefore,
much attention is focused on using the hot working prod-
ucts of Hadfield steel, withstanding even the severe
working conditions as seen in railway frogs, as shown in
Figure 1. One potential option that combines the near net
shape benefits of castings with improved mechanical
properties of hot deformation and forging is the use of cast
preforms. This approach reduces the number of hot
deformation steps and can result in a component closer in
shape to the end product.
However, the hot crack susceptibility over 1050 °C still is
the main challenge facing the hot deformation of this grade
of steel. MnS, M3P, and M3C are considered to be the most
suspicious phases in promoting the hot crack of the hot
deformed high-manganese steel.4–6 Manganese sulfide
cannot be implicated in the hot crack initiation as its high
melting temperature is 1610 °C. But some workers claimed
that the manganese sulfide interacts with dislocation by
International Journal of Metalcasting/Volume 15, Issue 4, 2021
 Figure 1. Forged frogs in railway industries.
pileup mechanism, promoting the stress around the parti-
cle, and at critical stress the sulfide particle is broken and
separated from the matrix causing the crack initiation.7 The
low solubility of phosphorus in the austenite leads to its
tendency to segregate at the austenite grain boundaries with
an increase in the working temperature. Then, molten
Fe3P?c eutectic phase can be observed at 1050 °C, as long
as the phosphorus content reaches 1% at the boundaries.8
In fact, phosphorus is an inevitable alloying element,
contaminating the molten metal of high-manganese steel
from the addition of low- and high-carbon ferromanganese
alloys. Lv. B. et al. claimed that reducing phosphorus to
less than 0.02% had a great effect on the hot workability of
high-manganese steel. Nevertheless, the authors have never
succeeded in proving this claim, since they also have found
that steel with low phosphorus content has less hot work-
ability.3 In addition, the recommended low content of
phosphorus is too difficult to be achieved in the real. Fur-
ther researches have proved that molten eutectic phase
c?M3C can form at a temperature over 950 °C in high-
manganese steel; consequently, this leads to hot crack
susceptibility.9,10 In addition, it was found that as long as
the carbon content increases in the austenite matrix,
M3C?c liquid phase may be promoted at high temperature
and consequently deteriorates the thermoplastic character
of high-manganese steel. From this point of view, it is
expected that the hot crack formation during the thermo-
plastic deformation of high-manganese steel will be avoi-
ded by decreasing the carbon content in the austenite
structure. At the meantime, carbon and manganese are
considered to be indispensable solutes in the austenite
International Journal of Metalcasting/Volume 15, Issue 4, 2021
matrix of high-manganese steel, in regard to their ability to
interact with the dislocations, generating an induced hard
martensite phase as a strain hardening phenomenon.11
Treating of the molten metal of high-manganese steel with
modifiers such as FeSiMg, FeSiCa, FeSiCe, and FeY is
recently applied through ladle treatment technology to
avoid the carbide network precipitation on the austenite
grain boundaries of the as-cast structure. Sulfides or oxides
with low free energy at high temperatures can act as nuclei
for the heterogeneous nucleation of cementite and austenite
into a new pseudo-eutectic phase during the austenitic
dendrite formation. High segregation coefficient of carbon
and manganese into the new pseudo-eutectic phase has
been observed in further researches.12,13 Then, the output
structure of ladle-treated high-manganese steel mainly
contains new eutectic phase enriched with carbon, which
disperses throughout the low-carbon-containing austenite
matrix.14,15 Thus, it is expected that this low-carbon-con-
taining austenite phase may carry a promising solution to
the continuous deterioration in the thermoplastic character
of high-manganese steel at high temperatures. Thereby, the
present research is designed to determine the effect of the
ladle treatment technology of high-manganese steel on its
thermoplastic character at high temperature compared with
the conventional high-manganese steel.
Experimental Method
Two heats of high-manganese steel were melted in mag-
nesia crucible induction furnace with 30 Kg capacity using
1349
a medium-carbon steel scrap, ferromanganese with differ-
ent carbon content, and low-carbon ferrochrome. The
molten metal of the first heat was poured at 1450 °C into
Y-block CO2 silica sand mold. The second heat was poured
after full deoxidation by pure aluminum at 1600 °C, and
thereafter it was subjected to ladle treatment technology,
using a certain amount of Ca-Si and Si-Mg iron-based
alloys as given in Table 1, and the chemical compositions
of Ca-Si and Si-Mg iron-based alloys are listed in Table 2.
Specimens were cut off from the Y-blocks using wire
electrode cutting machine. They were processed for further
machining to obtain specimens with dimensions of
10 9 10 9 10 mm for differential thermal analyzer DTA
apparatus, of 12 9 12 9 65 mm required for thermome-
chanical simulator Bahr TTS-820 type. Others were
machined into 5 9 5 9 10 mm as the required dimensions
for dilatometer DIL-805/D type.
Characterization of the Investigated Steel
at High Temperature
forming simulating machine Trebel model, followed by a
rapid cooling using high pressure of helium to freeze the
structure. Then, the specimens were prepared for obser-
vations, using optical microscopes and scanning electron
microscopes.
Thermoplastic Characterization
Two hot deformation simulators were used to simulate the
hot formability of the two investigated steels. Thermome-
chanical simulator (Bahr DIL-805/D) was chosen to sim-
ulate the hot deformation of the investigated steels at
different high temperatures from 800 to 1,200 °C, using
strain rate 10 S-1 and true strain 0.75, while thermome-
chanical simulator TTS of type Bahr TTS-820 was
assigned to perform the multistage deformation process at
high temperatures from 700 to 1,200 °C with high strain
rate 10 S-1 and true strain 0.2, in order to simulate the 2D
forging process.

The solidification processes, as well as the prospective Optical Observations

molten phases in the two investigated steels, were tracked
by differential thermal analysis (DTA) instrument to
identify the change of solidus and liquefying temperatures
among the two investigated steels, where the thermal
analysis of 10 mg of the specimen was carried out in DTA
tester model 404 S with DTA sensitivity 0.001 °C by slow
heating rate 1 °C/min up till 1550 °C and followed by slow
cooling rate 1 °C.min-1. In addition, to monitor the varia-
tion in fast solidified structure among the two investigated
steels, the specimen with a dimension of 5 9 5 9 10 mm
was heated up to 1500 °C in the vacuum chamber of hot
Optical microscopes and scanning electron microscopes in
conjugation with EDS were used to investigate the solidi-
fication structure of the investigated steels, hot crack sus-
ceptibility of the post-multistage deformed surfaces, and
the microstructure of the deformed specimens at high
temperatures. In addition, ladle-treated high-manganese
steel was prepared by mechanical thinning through using
SiC paper of grade 1200 to reduce the thickness to 80 lm,
followed by electropolishing using a Struers twin-jet pol-
isher (TENUPOL-2) in Nital 5% in order to track the

Table 1. Chemical Composition of Investigated Steels

Steel Chemical compositions, wt% Treatment process

C Si Mn S P Cr Al

Conventional high-manganese steel 1.1 0.5 11.5 0.025 0.045 0.92 0.05 Solution annealing 1,100 °C,
followed by water quenching
Ladle-treated high-manganese steel 1.05 1.0 11.2 0.025 0.06 1.02 0.06 Ladle treated by 0.33%Ca-Si,
and 0.3% of FeSiMg
The amount of molten metal was considered in calculating the amount of Ca-Si and FeSiMg.

Table 2. Chemical Compositions of Ca-Si and Si-Mg Iron-Based Alloys

Raw material Chemical composition, wt%

C Mn Si Cr S P Ca Al Mg Fe

Ca-Si modifier – 1.33 34.14 – – – 19.38 1.26 – 40.89

FeSiMg – – 33 – – – 3 – 10 64

1350 International Journal of Metalcasting/Volume 15, Issue 4, 2021

formation of the new eutectic constituent throughout the
austenite matrix of ladle-treated Hadfield steel by using
TEM, JEOL 2000 FX, operating at 200 kv with the aid of
SAD.
Results and Discussion
As-delivered Structure
The optical observations refer to the existence of
needlelike network cementite in as-cast conventional
high-manganese steel, precipitating on the austenite grain
boundaries (Figure 2a). However, new eutectic con-
stituent phase is distributing throughout the austenite
matrix in the ladle-treated high-manganese steel, as
shown in Figure 2b. In fact, the effect of ladle treatment
technology on the output structure of high-manganese
steel has been well studied in the precedent research. It is
expected that the existence of the new eutectic constituent
phase throughout the austenite matrix will affect the hot
deformation character of the ladle-treated steel mentioned
in the Introduction.16
TEM Observations
TEM observations with the aid of SAD (selected area
diffraction) show that magnesium sulfide acts as a nucleus
for the nucleation of austenite and cementite into a new
eutectic constituent phase, as shown in Figure 3. Surely, the
mechanism of nucleation can be represented through the
next section.
Figure 2. As-delivered microstructure of as-cast conventional (a), and ladle-treated (b) high-manganese steel.
International Journal of Metalcasting/Volume 15, Issue 4, 2021
Mechanism of Eutectic Formation
in Ladle-Treated High-Manganese Steel
It was found that the molten high-manganese steel with the
ordinary composition can be modified by Si-system mod-
ifiers, respectively, containing Ca, Mg, or Y, where the
needlelike network carbides were turned into nodular
eutectic (Fe, Mn)3C and austenite as being observed in
Figure1. Through the thermodynamic calculations, the
misfit lattice (d), crystal structure analyses, and the
observed microstructure at different occasions, it was
found that TiC, CeO2, La2O3, CeAlO3, SiO2, MgS, and
CaS all can act as heterogeneous nuclei of new eutectic
structure, based on their high negative DG at high tem-
perature. In addition, they have low lattice misfit (d) with
the austenite and cementite, estimated by less than
12%.14,17 Then, the heterogeneous nucleation can be
occurred in regard to Eqn 1:
d½iuvws Coshd½iuvwn
ðhklÞs
X
3 d½iuvwn
dðhklÞn ¼  100% Eqn: 1
i¼l
3
where d is the misfit between the lattice planes, d[uvw]s,
d[uvw]n is the lattice parameter of the substrate and the
nuclei, respectively, in nanometer, and h is the wetting
angle. MgS, SiO2, and CeO2 are formed preferentially
during solidification to act as heterogeneous nuclei for the
crystallization of the eutectic. Mg, Ce, and Si adsorb and
enrich on the growing surface of the eutectic during
crystallization, which makes the crystallization model of
the eutectic turn from facet–non-facet to non-facet–non-
facet. As the solubility of Si is less in the cementite, Si
1351
 Figure 3. TEM of the eutectic constituents and SADP of the eutectic constituents.

enriches on the growing interface of the eutectic
constituent, to impede Fe, C, and Mn elements from
concentrating on the eutectic as it grows. At the same time,
the constitutional supercooling on the eutectic interface
increases and it reduces the growing velocity of the
eutectic. Thus, Si and Mg are adsorbed and enriched on the
growing surface of the eutectic during the crystallization,
which makes the crystallization model of the eutectic turn
from facet–non-facet to non-facet–non-facet. When the
eutectic crystallizes as non-facet–non-facet, the growing
velocity of the eutectic is about the same in every
orientation, which gives the spherical shape of the
eutectic constituent.14, 18 The growth of the eutectic is
well explained in the illustration diagram as shown in
Figure 4. It was well established that the effect of this
modification has a great influence on the segregation
coefficients of Mn and C; the increment ratio of the
segregation coefficient of Mn and C has reached 50%. At
the same time, the content of Mn and C of the main c-Fe
decreases gradually.
Differential Thermal Analysis
DTA curve shows that a deviation from the DTA baseline
starts through heating at 1050 °C in the conventional high-
manganese steel as shown in Figure 5. At the same steel, it

Figure 4. The illustration diagram of eutectic growth during solidification process.

1352 International Journal of Metalcasting/Volume 15, Issue 4, 2021

 Figure 5. DTA curves of the two investigated steels *L1 and L2 are the first and second liquefaction temperatures.
was observed a deviation from the DTA baseline after the
primary phase formation which is continuing up till 1050 °C.
Surely, this deviation must have guided to the existence of the
liquefied phase. As mentioned above, M3C, M3P, and MnS
are considered as the main suspected phases to be liquid over
1050 °C in the high-manganese steel grades. The balanced
DTA baseline was observed in the ladle-treated high-man-
ganese steel either on heating or on cooling. Two-phase for-
mation temperatures were observed at the cooling regime of
ladle-treated high-manganese steel. The first one was
observed at 1500 °C, which may be attributed to the forma-
tion of the new eutectic constituent phase in the molten metal,
while the second one may appear at the beginning of the main
austenite phase in the ladle-treated high-manganese steel. It is
noticed that the temperature for the beginning of austenite in
the ladle-treated high-manganese steel is much higher than
that is observed in the conventional high-manganese steel by
75 °C. Certainly, this may carry an indication on the segre-
gation of the alloying elements as C and Mn from the main
austenite matrix into the new eutectic constituent phase
through the solidification.19 The large difference in temper-
ature between the liquid and the primary phase formation in
ladle-treated high-manganese steel with respect to conven-
tional high-manganese steel may assure the low carbon con-
tent in the main austenite phase, proving the segregation of
carbon from the main austenite matrix into the new eutectic
constituent phase.17 It has been well proved that the
endothermic reaction through heating in DTA analysis rep-
resents the liquefaction temperature.19 Then, from the DTA
heating figure, it can be observed an incipient melting tem-
perature observed at 1100 °C in the conventional high-man-
ganese steel, which may guide the melting of carbide or
phosphide phases. The thermodynamic model SCHEIL of
International Journal of Metalcasting/Volume 15, Issue 4, 2021
Thermo-Calc software 2015b Console Mode with TCER7
database was applied to the chemical composition of con-
ventional high-manganese steel. It proved the liquid phase at a
temperature over 1050 °C and existence of the carbide phase
in the liquid state at a temperature higher than 1050 °C. At the
meantime, the thermodynamic calculations prove that the
austenite content of carbon has significantly changed with
temperature in comparison with phosphorus. There is no
change of phosphorus along elevated temperatures as shown
in Figure 6.
Solidification Structures
Tracking the solidification structure of the two investigated
high-manganese steels should elucidate the significant
variation of the DTA observations in the two steels. Then,
the two investigated steels have been melted at 1500 °C in
a vacuum chamber, followed by rapid quenching in helium
gas with high pressure as explained in the experimental
methods. Figure 7 shows that the dendrite structure
accompanied with equiaxed grain obviously formed at high
temperature in ladle-treated high-manganese steel. On
contrary, dendrite structure is observed at high temperature
in conventional high-manganese steel. Certainly, this is
attributed to the formation of a new eutectic phase at a high
temperature in regard to conventional high-manganese
steel. Optical structure by high magnification assures the
formation of eutectic between the austenite dendrites at
high temperature. By using SEM with EDS technique, it
was confirmed that Mn and C segregate from the main
austenite matrix into the new eutectic constituent phase at
the beginning of solidification of ladle-treated high-
1353
 Figure 6. Change of solid phase and austenite content of carbon and phosphorus at high temperature in high-
manganese steel by thermodynamic calculation.

Figure 7. Freezing structure of two investigated steels at 1500 °C.

manganese steel (as shown in Figure 8), which is much
coincided with the previous research.20
Multistage Deformation
To detect the susceptibility of hot crack in the two investi-
gated high-manganese steels, they were multistage-deformed
by thermomechanical simulator from 700 to 1200 °C,
applying high strain rate 10 S-1, and with true strain 0.2,
intimidating 2D forging process. The change of flow stress
was tracked among the process at each temperature. The
increment in the flow stress was observed at a low tempera-
ture of 700 °C in favor of conventional Hadfield steel in
comparison with ladle-treated high-manganese steel. As
mentioned above, the segregation of C and Mn was occurred
from the main austenite matrix to the new eutectic phase,
reducing the strengthening of the austenite matrix based on

1354 International Journal of Metalcasting/Volume 15, Issue 4, 2021

 Figure 8. SEM of dendrite structure in ladle-treated high-manganese steel.
Figure 9. Stress–strain curve of multistage deformation of investigated steels.
solid solution mechanism. This will lead to a decrease in the
interaction sites of dislocation and, consequently, reduce the
flow stress of the ladle-treated high-manganese steel as shown
in Figure 9. Two softening mechanisms were observed in the
two investigated steels through the thermoplastic deforma-
tion. Dynamic recrystallization mechanism is observed at
800 °C in the two investigated steels, at which the peak stress
occurred. This dynamic recrystallization temperature has a
similar value to which previously observed on high-man-
ganese steel by using the same strain rate.21, 22 The increment
of flow stress in the dynamic recovery mechanism in ladle-
treated high-manganese steel is prominent in regard to con-
ventional high-manganese steel at a temperature over
1000 °C. It is well known that at high temperature, the
stacking fault energy of the austenite increases which pro-
motes the gliding of dislocation rather than strain hardening
mechanism, and then the generated dislocations are just to
International Journal of Metalcasting/Volume 15, Issue 4, 2021
annihilate the present dislocations.23 But it is observed that
the enhancement of the flow stress in ladle-treated high-
manganese steel at high temperature guides the enhancement
in its formability at high temperature. Then, the existence of
the new eutectic phase in the main austenite matrix results in
an increment of the flow stress at a high temperature.
Hot Crack Susceptibility
Macrostructure Observations
The macrostructure observations of the post-multistage
deformed surface of the investigated steels reveal macrocrack
propagation on the surface of conventional high-manganese
steel, whereas no crack has been observed in ladle-treated
high-manganese steel as shown in Figure 10. Thereby, it is
1355
 Figure 10. Macrocrack investigations in two high-manganese steel after multistage deformation process.
supposed that identifying crack root cause will define hot
formability deterioration cause of the of conventional high-
manganese steel, while it accentuates the role of the new
structure in ladle-treated high-manganese steel in the
enhancement of its thermoplastic character. As mentioned
above, further work has proved that the crack susceptibility in
high-manganese steel should have resulted from the existence
of the liquid phase at high temperatures, such as M3P or
M3C.24 Thereby, the two investigated steels have been macro-
examined by SEM and EDS to identify the phase which pro-
motes the hot crack phenomenon in conventional high-man-
ganese steel. The molten phase observed in the hot crack was
analyzed by EDS in comparison with the solid structure. An
increment in the carbon content is observed in the molten
phase at the expense of the carbon content in the solid struc-
ture. On contrary, the phosphorus content at the two sites is
similar, as shown in Figure 11a. In addition, the microstructure
investigations of ladle-treated high-manganese steel reveal
surface with free hot crack, as shown in Figure 11b. The
contrast of EDS between the eutectic phase and the austenite
matrix refers to the high segregation coefficient of carbon from
the main austenite matrix toward new eutectic, which is much
expected to be the main reason for enhancing the hot forma-
bility of ladle-treated high-manganese steel.
Microstructure Observations of the Multistage
Deformed Surface
The microstructure of the deformed surface of the two
investigated steels confirms that the hot crack root is
1356
attributed to the existence of the molten carbide phase at
the austenite grain boundaries of conventional high-man-
ganese steel as shown in Figure 12. Despite the carbon
increment in the molten phase at the grain boundaries, the
phosphorus content does not change through the grain
boundaries and the austenite matrix. This initiates a strong
evidence to the powerful role of carbide in deteriorating the
thermoplastic character of the high-manganese steel.
Although eutectic between Fe3P?c and austenite has been
much suspected in promoting the crack during the hot
deformation of high-manganese steel, the present results
confirm that the carbide phase is the main factor in pro-
moting the hot crack formation during the hot deformation
process of the high-manganese steel.3 Then, it can be
concluded that by reducing the carbon content in the
austenite phase, the best hot deformation character can be
established. This explains the enhancement of hot forma-
bility and the free crack susceptibility in ladle-treated high-
manganese steel unlike conventional high-manganese steel.
Deformation at High Temperatures
Hot formability of the two investigated steels at different
high temperatures 800°, 1,000°, 1,100°, and 1,200 °C was
simulated by thermomechanical simulator (Bahr DIL-805/
D) at high strain rate 10 S-1 and true strain 0.75. The flow
stress was monitored at each temperature to evaluate the
formability character of the studied steels. It is obviously
observed that ladle-treated high-manganese steel exhibits
higher flow stress compared to conventional high-
International Journal of Metalcasting/Volume 15, Issue 4, 2021
 Figure 11. SEM of macrostructure of the two investigated steels after multistage deformation process. (a). SEM of
macrocrack observed after multistage deformation of conventional high-manganese steel (b). SEM of macrostruc-
ture after multistage deformation of ladle-treated high-manganese steel.

manganese steel at a temperature over 1000 °C. In the
meantime, the deterioration of flow stress is observed in
conventional high-manganese steel at 1000 °C, followed
by great deterioration at 1200 °C as shown in Figure 13.
The flow stress of low-carbon steel at 1000 and 1100 °C
with the same strain rate was reported by Sun et al.25 Then,
the data were used for comparison between the two
investigated steels and the low-carbon steel at high tem-
peratures that was used as a reference, as shown in Fig-
ure 14. It can be confirmed that ladle-treated high-
manganese steel exhibits higher flow stress than the low-
carbon steel at high temperature. This may carry a strong
proof for the possibility of using ladle-treated high-man-
ganese steel in the production of many hot deformed

International Journal of Metalcasting/Volume 15, Issue 4, 2021 1357

 Figure 12. Microstructure of two investigated steels after multistage deformation. (a). Conventional high-
manganese steel, (b). ladle-treated high-manganese steel, (c). SEM of conventional high-manganese steel.

products. It was well proved that the movement of dislo-
cations is much easier by increasing the deformation tem-
peratures. However, the increase in flow stress at high
temperature may refer to that the movement of dislocation
faced new obstacles at this temperature.11 The strain
hardening exponent of the deformed steel at high temper-
ature is determined by Eq. 2 to evaluate the movement of
dislocations at high temperatures, where d is the true stress,
e is the true strain, n and k are constants which represent the
strain hardening value.
ln d ¼ ln K þ n ln e: Eqn: 2
Figure 15 proves that the strain hardening exponent of
ladle-treated high-manganese steel is linearly proportional
to the temperature, which is completely adverse to the

1358 International Journal of Metalcasting/Volume 15, Issue 4, 2021


Figure 13. True stress–strain curve of two investigated
steels at high temperature.
Figure 14. Comparison between two investigated high-
manganese steels and low-carbon steel at high
temperature.
Figure 15. Strain hardening exponent of two investi-
gated steels at high temperature.
hardening exponent in conventional high-manganese steel.
The sole interpretation for this phenomenon is the
possibility of carbon diffusion at high temperature from
the rich carbon area as the new eutectic constituent phase
International Journal of Metalcasting/Volume 15, Issue 4, 2021
into the poor-carbon-containing area as the main austenite
matrix. Thereby, the enrichment of carbon solutes in the
austenite matrix may induce further interaction with
dislocations and consequently enhance the flow stress at
high temperatures.
Microstructure of the Post-deformed Surface
In this investigation, the deformed specimens of conven-
tional high-manganese steel and ladle-treated high-man-
ganese steel at 1100 °C were observed by SEM in
conjugation with EDS to find out the hot forming deteri-
oration cause of the conventional high-manganese steel and
to identify the main reason for enhancing the flow stress of
ladle-treated high-manganese steel. It was found that the
molten phase is formed at the austenite grain boundaries as
shown in Figure 16. EDS analysis of the molten phases at
the austenite grain boundary refers to its enrichment by
carbon content at the expense of the main austenite matrix.
Then, the molten carbide phase is considered to be the
main deteriorative phase for conventional high-manganese
steel. On contrary, no molten phase is observed at the
austenite grain boundary in ladle-treated high-manganese
steel. In addition, it is noticed that the carbon content
between the main austenite matrix and the new eutectic
phase is almost identical. This confirms the effect of high
temperature on carbon diffusion from the eutectic phase to
the inferior carbon-containing phase. Thereby, the enrich-
ment of carbon content in the main austenite matrix at high
temperatures leads to the enhancement in strain hardening
as discussed before in Figure 15.
Conclusions
Ladle treatment of molten high-manganese steel shows a
great improvement in hot forming character of high-man-
ganese steel. TEM observations with the aid of SAD show
the nucleation of austenite and cementite on magnesium
sulfide nuclei, forming a new eutectic constituent. This new
eutectic constituent phase provides the ladle-treated high-
manganese steel with high forming character at high tem-
perature. However, the liquid phase was observed in con-
ventional high-manganese steel over 1050 °C.
Solidification structure refers to segregation of carbon and
manganese in the new eutectic phase at the beginning of
the austenite dendrite formation, which prevents the for-
mation of M3C. M3C has the main role in the crack sus-
ceptibility during the hot deformation process of
conventional high-manganese steel. The new eutectic
constituent phase throughout the austenite matrix of ladle-
treated high-manganese steel has a great impact on
1359
 Figure 16. Microstructure of two investigated steels after deformation at 1100 °C. (a). Microstructure of
conventional high-manganese steel deformed at 1100 °C. (b). Microstructure of conventional high-manganese
steel deformed at 1100 °C

1360 International Journal of Metalcasting/Volume 15, Issue 4, 2021

avoiding the crack susceptibility at high temperature. High
flow stress was monitored in ladle-treated high-manganese
steel at high temperatures, assuring the formability
enhancement in the high-manganese steel after using ladle
treatment technology.
Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank Prof. Dr. Ing. Wolfgang
Bleck (IEHK, Aachen, Germany) for his support during
the postdoctoral program funded from the Egyptian
delegation office.
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