The origin of midrib in lenticular martensite

In the present paper, the origin of midrib in lenticular martensite is clarified by examining the similarity between midrib and thin plate martensite in detail and studying the stress-induced growth behavior of thin plate martensite at various temperatures. Although lenticular martensite, especially midrib, exhibits a zigzag array in general, some martensite plates which are branched or kinked were also observed as thin plate martensite. The substructure of midrib is completely twinned and the orientation relationship of midrib with respect to austenite is close to Greninger-Troiano relationship. The morphology, substructure and crystallographic features of midrib in lenticular martensite are quite similar to those of thin plate martensite. Furthermore, stressinduced growth behavior of thin plate martensite changes with deformation temperature. Thermally-transformed thin plate martensite grows keeping a thin plate shape when deformed at temperature close to the Ms temperature. However, it grows into a lenticular shape accompanied by a substructure with a high density of dislocations after deformation at temperature much higher than Ms temperature. Therefore, it is concluded that midrib in lenticular martensite is thin plate martensite itself. The difference between lenticular martensite and thin plate martensite is only in their growth behaviors.