The transformation mechanism of reverted austenite and the amount of reverted austenite during the tempering process in supermartensitic stainless steel have been investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), and a high-temperature laser scanning confocal microscope (HTLSCM). The results indicate that the microstructure mainly consists of tempered martensite and reverted austenite. The reverted austenite nucleates uniformly at the sub-block boundary and prior grain austenite boundary. The amount of reverted austenite strongly relies on the tempering time, showing a positive correlation in the supermartensitic stainless steel. The crystallographic orientation relationship between reverted austenite and martensite meets the Kurdjumov-Sachs(K-S) relationship and the deviation angle is mainly concentrated at about 2 degrees. The mechanism of reverted austenite transformed from martensite is a diffusion mechanism. The growth kinetics of the reverted austenite are dominated by diffusion of the Ni element and there is no shear deformation of the martensite matrix in the in situ observation. It can be deduced that the reverted austenite is formed by nickel diffusion during tempering at 620 °C for different tempering times.

The formation and growth kinetics of the reverted austenite during tempering in 13Cr supermartensitic stainless steel were investigated by a combination X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The reverted austenite precipitated at the martensite blocks, sub-blocks, laths and grain boundaries. The growth kinetics was established by Johnson-Mehl-Avrami (JAM) kinetics equation according to the volume fraction of the equilibrium reverted austenite at room temperature. The Avrami exponent value is 0.5, and the activation energy was estimated to be 369 kJ/mol, the kinetic model indicates that the mechanism of reverted austenite is diffusion-controlled and the growth of reverted austenite closely relies on the diffusion of the nickel (Ni) element. The experimental measured orientations of the reverted austenite are in good agreement with the theoretical ones, implying that the reverted austenite has the same orientation with the surrounding martensite, which meets the Kurdjumov–Sachs (K-S) orientation relationship. The orientation relationships minimize the strain energy of the phase transformation by reducing the crystallographic mismatch between phases.

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