Internal friction in martensitic carbon steels

This paper proposes relationships between the internal friction and the microstructure of two steels containing 0.626 and 0.71 wt.% carbon. The steels were annealed at 1093 K for 5 min, quenched into water and tempered for 10 min at 423, 573 and 723 K. Internal friction was measured by using a forced vibration pendulum, in a temperature range from 100 to 450 K. The internal friction spectrum is decomposed into four peaks: P1 at 215 K, P2 at 235 K, P3 at 260 K and P4 at 380 K for 3 Hz. Peak P1 is attributed to the interactions between dislocations and carbon atoms. Peak P2 is related to the interaction between dislocations and carbide. Peak P3 is related to the generations of kink – pairs along edge dislocations. Peak P4 is attributed to epsilon carbide precipitation.