Dataset we used

[Link]
The dataset, obtained from the above website, consists of Ultrahigh
Carbon Steel microstructure images taken over a range of length scales
under systematically varied heat treatments. These microstructure
images were classified on the basis of composition of the specimen
using Artificial Intelligence Model.

Which alloy? Ultrahigh Carbon Steel

Number of phases : 7 phases

1. Pearlite
Pearlite is a layered metallic structure of two-phases, which compose of
alternating layers of ferrite (87.5 wt%) and cementite (12.5 wt%) that
occurs in some steels and cast irons. It is named for its resemblance to
mother of pearl. If steel (austenite) with a eutectoid composition of
approximately 0.77% C is slowly cooled below 727 °C, the ferrite and
cementite phase separate almost simultaneously to produce a
microstructure with distinctive platelets. This distinctive microstructure of
steel is called pearlite. A ferrite phase has a much lower carbon content,
and cementite has a much higher carbon concentration.
2. Spheroidite
Spheroidite structure is a microstructure that contains sphere-like
cementite particles. It is known as the most ductile and machinable form
of steel.
Spheroidite forms when carbon steel is heated to approximately 700 °C
for over 30 hours. It can form at lower temperatures but the time needed
drastically increases, as this is a diffusion-controlled process. The result
is a structure of rods or spheres of cementite within primary structure.
The purpose is to soften higher carbon steels and allow more formability.

3. Martensite
Martensite is a very hard form of steel crystalline structure. It is hard
brittle mass of fibrous or needle like structure and is the chief constituent
of hardened steel. The vickers pyramid numeral is anything upto 900 for
an original carbon content of 0.9 percent. It is formed in carbon steels by
the rapid cooling (quenching) of the austenite form of iron at such a high
rate that carbon atoms do not have time to diffuse out of the crystal
structure in large enough quantities to form cementite. Austenite is γ-Fe,
(gamma-phase iron), a solid solution of iron and alloying elements. As a
result of the quenching, the face-centered cubic austenite transforms to
a highly strained body-centered tetragonal form called martensite that
is supersaturated with carbon.
4. Pearlite-Spheroidite
Spheroidizing of high carbon steel is a method of prolonged heating at a
temperature below the eutectoid temperature. By heating at this
temperature pearlite, which is the lowest energy arrangement of steel,
gets converted to ferrite and cementite. The graphite content of steel
assumes a spheroidal shape after spheroidizing and after heating, when
some of the pearlite layers are broken down, some spherical lumps of
cementite (spheroidite) are formed. Hence, pearlite-spheroidite is
formed.
5. Spheroidite-Widmanstatten

6. Pearlite-Widmanstatten

(roughly likha hai yeh):

This microstructure is formed in steels containing less than about 0.6%

carbon by weight. In these alloys, for certain ranges of parent crystal
size and transformation temperature, Widmanstatten plates of low-
carbon ferrite (an interstitial solid solution of carbon in BCC iron) form in
parent crystals of higher carbon austenite (an interstitial solid solution of
carbon in FCC iron). This microstructure results when steels are cooled
at a critical rate from extremely high temperatures. It consists of ferrite
and pearlite and has a cross-hatched appearance due to the ferrite
having formed along certain crystallographic planes.
Widmanstatten ferrite is also known as an over-heated structure. You
get that particularly well expressed in hypo eutectoid plain carbon steel
that is cooled down from a temperature above (overheated) the A3
temperature, where the pure γ-phase (austenite) starts to transform into
primary ferrite and austenite. The presence of high carbon and grain
coarsening are essential conditions for the formation of widmanstatten
structure in steel.

7. Network
Rough:

The structures in spheroidite are one thousand times larger than those of pearlite and are
spaced further apart. This means the spheroidite steel is extremely ductile. However,
theprocess of spheroidizing does consume a lot of energy.

Spheroiditic microstructures are more stable than pearlitic ones. Since pearlite transforms

to spheroidite, the latter is more stable. 

The strength and hardness of the different microstructures is inversely related to the size of the
microstructures. Thus, spheroidite is softest, fine pearlite is stronger than coarse pearlite, bainite
is stronger than pearlite and martensite is the strongest of all.

Pearlite is a two-phased, lamellar (or layered) structure composed of alternating layers

of ferrite (87.5 wt%) and cementite (12.5 wt%) that occurs in some steels and cast irons. During
slow cooling of an iron-carbon alloy, pearlite forms by a eutectoid reaction as austenite cools
below 723 °C (1,333 °F) (the eutectoid temperature). Pearlite is a microstructure occurring in
many common grades of steels.

In metallurgy, pearlite is a layered metallic structure of two-phases, which compose of

alternating layers of ferrite (87.5 wt%) and cementite (12.5 wt%) that occurs in some
steels and cast irons. It is named for its resemblance to mother of pearl. If steel
(austenite) with a eutectoid composition of approximately 0.77% C is slowly cooled
below 727 °C, the ferrite and cementite phase separate almost simultaneously to
produce a microstructure with distinctive platelets. This distinctive microstructure of steel
is called pearlite. A ferrite phase has a much lower carbon content, and cementite has a
much higher carbon concentration.
In a hypereutectoid composition (greater than 0.8% carbon), the carbon will first
precipitate out as large inclusions of cementite at the austenite grain boundaries until
the percentage of carbon in the grains has decreased to the eutectoid composition (0.8%
carbon), at which point the pearlite structure forms.

In a hypoeutectoid composition, that means when low-carbon steels (with up to 0.30%

C) or medium-carbon steels (with 0.30 to 0.60% C) are slowly cooled from the austenitic
phase, some low-carbon α-ferrite forms first along austenite grain boundaries) until the
remaining composition rises to 0.8% of carbon, at which point the pearlite structure will
form. No large inclusions of cementite will form at the boundaries in hypoeuctoid steel.
The above assumes that the cooling process is very slow, allowing enough time for the
carbon to migrate.

The most common structural steels produced have a mixed ferrite-pearlite

microstructure. Their applications include beams for bridges and high-rise buildings,
plates for ships, and reinforcing bars for roadways. These steels are relatively inexpensive
and are produced in large tonnages

Martensite is a very hard metastable structure with a body-centered tetragonal (BCT)

crystal structure. Martensite is formed in steels when the cooling rate from austenite is at
such a high rate that carbon atoms do not have time to diffuse out of the crystal
structure in large enough quantities to form cementite (Fe 3C).

The microstructure obtained as the weld cools from the liquid phase

to ambient temperature is called the as-
deposited or primary microstructure. Its major components include
allotriomorphic ferrite, Widmanstätten ferrite, and acicular ferrite
(Fig. 13.3). There may also be some martensite,
retained austenite or degenerate pearlite. These latter phases occur
in very small fractions, and are known by the collective
term microphases. Bainite, consisting of sheaves of
parallel platelets, is not generally found in well-designed welding
alloys. Instead, acicular ferrite is induced to nucleate
heterogeneously on non-metallic inclusions
Microstructures of polycrystalline metals and alloys have an
immense impact on materials properties. Almost all mechanical
properties, such as strength, toughness, or creep resistance,
depend on the grain size of the material, where the grain
boundaries that can be considered as two-dimensional defects play
a fundamental role in processing. Therefore, understanding grain
microstructures and their changes due to recrystallization and grain
growth is of great importance since a change in microstructure
leads to a change of the materials properties, which might make the
material unusable in applications.

An understanding of the atomic mechanisms of solid-state transformation is

important because the details of the way in which atoms move determine
the morphology, chemical composition and other characteristics of the
microstructure.
Widmanstatten (from pdf)
In many alloys, precipitation-hardening phenomena are made even more complicated
by the fact that nucleation occurs both homogeneously and heterogeneously. Preferred
locations for heterogeneous nucleation in these alloys are grain boundaries and slip
planes. Since heterogeneous signifies easier nucleation, precipitation tends to occurmore
rapidly at these locations. This introduces a time lag between the aging responses
in areas undergoing heterogeneous and homogeneous nucleations, and overaging fre-
quently occurs at the grain boundaries long before precipitation in the matrix has had
a chance to develop fully. Another effect of rapid precipitation at grain boundaries is
that precipitate particles may grow large in size and, as a result, deplete the solute from
the areas adjacent to the boundaries. A band of metal, free of precipitation, is then left
on each side of the boundary (see Fig. 16.20A). This effect can be greatly magnified if
the alloy is heated to the solution-treating temperature and slowly cooled. On slow
cooling, nucleation starts at temperatures just below the solvus line at points of easy
nucleation, as for example, grain boundaries. At the same time, homogeneous nucle-
ation is prevented because of the negligible rate for this form of nucleation at tem-
peratures close to the solvus line. On continued slow cooling, the grain-boundary
precipitate continues to grow through diffusion of solute from the matrix to the
precipitate. At the same time, the solute concentration in the matrix is continually
reduced and the solution never becomes greatly supersaturated. In this manner, nearly
all of the solute finds its way to the second phase in the boundaries and general
precipitation in the matrix does not occur. Figure 16.20B is representative of a slowly
cooled alloy with grain-boundary precipitation.
Heterogeneous nucleation on slip planes is frequently induced by quenching stresses
that develop when the metal is rapidly cooled from the solution-treating temperature.
Relief of these stresses through plastic deformation by slip leaves large numbers of dislo-
cation segments along slip planes, which act as loci for heterogeneous nucleation.
Precipitation phenomena are sometimes further complicated by the occurrence of
recrystallization during the formation of the precipitate. When this happens, it is the matrix
that recrystallizes; matrix atoms regroup to form new crystals.
Finally, it should be pointed out that precipitate particles are not always spherical in
shape. Frequently, the precipitate has a plate-like, or even a needle-like, form. In many
cases plate- or needle-shaped precipitate particles grow in such a manner that they are
aligned along specific crystallographic planes or directions of the matrix crystals.
Interesting geometrical patterns may result from this type of precipitate growth. It is cus-
tomary to call such formations Widmanstätten structures
Short, dark lines represent plate-shaped precipitate particles that are aligned on specific
crystallographic planes of the crystals of the matrix.

Network(from pdf)
The microstructures obtained when a steel is slowly cooled from the austenitic region
depend on the original carbon concentration of the steel. If this concentration is less than
0.77 percent, the eutectoid composition, then the microstructure will contain two pri-
mary constituents: proeutectoid ferrite and pearlite. If the carbon concentration equals
that of the eutectoid, the structure will consist only of pearlite, and if it is higher than
0.77 percent, it will contain proeutectoid cementite and pearlite. Both the proeutectoid
ferrite and the proeutectoid cementite nucleate preferentially and heterogeneously on
the austenite grain boundaries. There are two basic reasons for this: the boundaries con-
tain energetically favorable sites for nucleation and they are regions where the diffusion
rates are higher. When a ferrite nucleus forms at an austenitic grain boundary, it normally
develops a different orientation relationship with respect to the austenite grains on the
two sides of the boundary. Generally, the nucleus will have a simple orientation relation-
ship with one of its two neighboring austenite grains known as the Kurdjumov-Sachs
relationship (K-J). This is:
{111}-
-
-
{110} (habit plane)
18.1
110-
-
-
111
In this relationship, a {110} plane of the alpha phase is aligned with a {111} plane of
the austenite. The boundary between the nucleus and this austenite grain conforms to
the Kurdjumov-Sachs relation and is the habit plane. In this habit plane, a 111 direc-
tion in the ferrite nucleus is aligned with a 110 direction in the austenite. Since this
habit plane is a low-energy boundary it normally does not move during the growth of
the nucleus. The ferrite grain, thus, grows into only one of the two austenite grains
associated with the boundary. In this regard, the boundary that is created between the
ferrite nucleus and the austenite grain into which it grows is, in general, a high-energy
or noncoherent boundary. However, it has been often observed that when a new phase
grows inward from a boundary, this phase may appear as long thin plates (or needles).
This produces a morphology usually called a Widmannstätten plate structure. Such a struc-
ture is commonly observed when austenite transforms into ferrite. It is most readily
seen in steel specimens in which the austenite grain size was very large before the
transformation took place.
It has been observed that the Widmannstätten plates or laths can both increase in
length and thickness as the transformation proceeds. There are two different types of
boundaries that actually separate a ferrite lath from the austenite grain into which the lath
grows: (1) the parallel sides of the lath, and (2) the edge or end of the lath. The sides of
the lath are normally assumed to be low-energy or coherent (or at least semicoherent)
boundaries and thus immobile. The boundary at the end of the lath, on the other hand, is
expected to be a non-coherent high-energy boundary in agreement with its observed
mobility. On this basis, one would normally expect that a lath should only grow in length
but not in thickness. However, a solution to the thickening problem of the laths has been
proposed by Aaronson.4 This proposal, which is supported by experimental observations,
assumes that the laths thicken as a result of the lateral movement of small ledges or steps
along the coherent faces of the laths. A schematic drawing illustrating this type of growth
is given in Fig. 18.3. Part A of this figure shows the serrated interfacial structure of a fer-
rite grain growing in this manner, while Part B shows the elimination of the serrations as
a result of extensive further growth.
In the hypereutectoid steels with greater than 0.77 percent carbon, the proeutectoid
cementite also nucleates at the austenite grain boundaries. In this case, the cementite tends
to form as a layer that lies only on one side of a boundary and in some cases, under the
right conditions, it may actually form a continuous grain boundary network. Thus, it nor-
mally grows only into one of the two grains at the boundary. An orientation relationship
also exists between the cementite and the austenite grain into which the cementite does
not grow. Since cementite is tetragonal, this relationship is complicated and may be found
in the literature.5