01-17-2018, 12:50 PM
Mr. Mark, that is a great compliment and I thank you. My other occupation has taken on some teaching, and at least I know my ham fisted attempts at teaching can get through to people who want to learn. I have a long way to go in that endeavor.
It is important that the scholarly work explain and match up with the observed behavior, otherwise, what's the point? It's also handy to have as much understanding of the theory as possible, as it minimizes dead ends and trial and error work, and we only have so much time to pursue improvement.
"My simplified explanation to that statement would be that at room temp, unhardened phase, the Fe atoms and C atoms mainly separate, with most of the C atoms clumping together in carbides."
That's a handy way to look at it. In steel, carbon is what is known as an interstitial element. That means it fits between the iron atoms. Carbon has only two places to go in steel. It fits between the iron atoms, which is to say it dissolves in the iron. Or, it combines with the iron to form a chemical bond and makes carbides. The arrangement of atoms in ferrite, or alpha iron, doesn't have much space between the atoms to put carbon, so it can't all go there. The only other place it can go is to chemically combine with iron to form cementite.
It is important that the scholarly work explain and match up with the observed behavior, otherwise, what's the point? It's also handy to have as much understanding of the theory as possible, as it minimizes dead ends and trial and error work, and we only have so much time to pursue improvement.
"My simplified explanation to that statement would be that at room temp, unhardened phase, the Fe atoms and C atoms mainly separate, with most of the C atoms clumping together in carbides."
That's a handy way to look at it. In steel, carbon is what is known as an interstitial element. That means it fits between the iron atoms. Carbon has only two places to go in steel. It fits between the iron atoms, which is to say it dissolves in the iron. Or, it combines with the iron to form a chemical bond and makes carbides. The arrangement of atoms in ferrite, or alpha iron, doesn't have much space between the atoms to put carbon, so it can't all go there. The only other place it can go is to chemically combine with iron to form cementite.