Fundamentals of Materials Science and Engineering

A
Research Paper
on the revolutionary
Super Bainite Steel

Submitted to:
Engr. Ruby Henson

Submitted by:
Luzuriaga, Joseph
Maglalang, Francis
Ponce, Marco
1

Introduction
For thousands of years, steel has been used to make or do just about whatever
we ask of it, from ancient suits of armor to modern skyscrapers. It has been mass
produced since the mid-19th century and global production of this most abundant of
materials currently stands at more than 1.4 billion metric tons per year.
Although all steel consists of primarily of iron and carbon, it has an almost infinite
variety of properties, depending on the type or amount of other elements added to the
mix, or the temperature at which the steel is produced. This complexity makes steel
extremely versatile, but also very difficult to understand and to design from the atomic
level.
Prof. Harry Bhadeshia of the University of Cambridges Department of Materials
Science and Metallurgy has spent the past three decades researching the nature of
steel to develop new alloys for a range of applications. One of these alloys, Super
Bainite, has been licensed to Tata Steel and is currently being manufactured in the UK
by the company for use as super-strong armor for military vehicles, as well as for other
applications.
Super Bainite was invented by Defense Science and Technology Laboratorys
(DSTL) Professor Peter Brown, Professor Harry Bhadeshia, Tata Steel professor of
Metallurgy at Cambridge University and Dr Carlos Garcia-Mateo, previously at
Cambridge University and currently at the National Center for Metallurgical Research,
Madrid. DSTL owns the patents relating to the chemical composition and processing of
Super Bainite.
Super Bainite is not only incredibly strong and lightweight, but also cheap and
simple to manufacture. The new armor steel has been developed to have ballistics
properties and, in tests, it has performed better than normal steel armor.

Structure and Properties

The armor steel is based on a high-carbon steel grade, alloyed with manganese,
silicon, chromium ,and molybdenum. It is produced as hot-rolled coil and can then be
de-coiled, leveled and heat-treated to give a material with very high strength and
hardness, designed for use in armor systems.
Super Bainite Steel is described comprising between 90 % and 50 % bainite, the
rest being austenite, in which excess carbon remains within the bainitic ferrite at a
concentration beyond that consistent with equilibrium; there is also partial partitioning of
carbon into the residual austenite. Such bainite steel has very fine bainite platelets
(thickness 100nm or less).
Super Bainite is strong very strong. With a tensile strength of some 2.5
gigapascals, just one square meter can support a weight equivalent to the weight of 2.5
billion apples. It has a higher density interfaces than any other type of metal, and is the
worlds first bulk nanostructured metal.
The strength Super Bainite derives not only from the lack of carbides, but also
from the tiny size iron crystals within its structure. Most types of steel are made up of
very fine crystals: the smaller and finer the crystals, the stronger the resulting steel will
be. The crystals in Super Bainite are between 20 and 40 nanometers thick, comparable
to the width of carbon nanotubes. In comparison, the crystals in conventional Bainite are
between 200 and 500 namometers thick.
The miniscule size of these crystals means that the steel is very difficult to
deform, resulting in a more perfect structure.
In general, Super Bainite has all the mechanical properties of steel. But its
properties are superior than steel.

Hardness
High hardness: 500 BHN (Brinell)
Ultra highhardness: 600 BHN

Methods of Manufacture/ Processing

Bainite is a microstructure that forms when austenite, a high-temperature phase
steel, is cooled to tempereatures between 250 and 500 degrees Celsius. The structure
of austenite transforms as it cools, when slender crystals of iron incorporate themselves
into the structure, and carbon compounds known as carbides form. The resulting bainite
structure is very hard, but carbides make it brittle and prone to cracking.
Using precise modeling, they determined that there is no lower limit to the
temperature at which Bainite can be produced. By heat-treating it at temperatures
around 200 degrees Celsius (closer to those that are normally used for baking cakes
rather than for manufacturing steel) for 10 or more days, a new form results: Super
Bainite. In addition, by adding elements such as silicon and molybdenum, carbides and
harmful impurity phases are prevented from forming in the steel, reducing the likelihood
of cracks.
The cooking time resulted in a product with highly desirable characteristics, but
the long wait meant that super bainite was only suitable for certain commercial
applications. Through the use of kinetic and thermodynamic modeling, it was found that
by tailoring the composition of Super Bainite and heat-treating it at slightly higher
temperatures, up to 250 degrees Celsius, it could be manufactured in a matter of hours
rather than days, without any significance loss in performance.
They found that by applying a heat treatment process called isothermal
hardening, holding the steel at about 200 degrees Celsius over several days, they could
create ultra-hard and strong steel without expensive added alloy metals. However, this
lengthy process would have made it unsuitable and uneconomical for mass production,
so by upping the heat treatment temperature to 250 degrees Celsius, they reduced the
treatment time to just eight hours.

And because of the very slow cooking process, which is actually quite simple, the
steel can be made in very large quantities at low costs.
The outstanding properties of Super Bainite are down to unique production
processes. Traditionally, steel is covered with water to get it to room temperature quickly
before structural weaknesses can form. But with Super Bianite, a whole variety of
cooling methods, using air or even molten salt, are used throughout production.

Industrial Applications/ Performance

This revolutionary steel, known as Super Bainite, has undergone a number of
design improvements and has taken on a new name, PAVISE.
The ballistic performance of PAVISE (the way it reacts with the effect of
projectiles) is at least twice that of conventional rolled homogenous steel armor. The
perforated design of the steel creates large number of edges which disrupt the path of
incoming projectiles, significantly reducing their potency.

A challenge Tata Steel has addressed and overcome since the products launch in 2011
is how to create the perforations in a cost-efficient way. The former production route
involved drilling round holes into hard armor steel, which was difficult and expensive. By
developing a process to mechanically punch the metal before the steel is hardened, and
by making the holes smaller and narrower, Tata Steel has managed to reduce the cost
of the perforation process ten-fold. It is also now possible to bend the steel into tight
angles in the perforated condition, before hardening to ultra-high levels of hardness.

One effect of the perforations is that the armor becomes almost transparent at a
distance of more than a few meters, due to the size and spacing of the holes a
principle known as the Raleigh Criterion. This means the existing camouflage of the
vehicle is not compromised when the sections of PAVISE are added.

In addition to its superior ballistic properties, PAVISE is manufactured in a far

simpler way than other commercially available ballistic armor, and its performance
comes from its unique properties, says Kevin Edgar, Head of Marketing, Engineering
Sectors at Tata Steel.
Tata Steels PAVISE ultra high-hardness perforated armor steel has been
specifically developed for demanding military applications. It is used to produce tailored
armor systems that are both light and efficient.

PAVISE features a unique perforation profile and microstructure. The

microstructure produces physical properties that translate into superb ballistic
performance. Ballistic mass efficiency is up to 2.5 when PAVISE is incorporated as a
perforated strike face in an armor system. PAVISE also offers processing benefits. It
can be laser-profiled and has excellent paint-adherence properties.

PAVISE, which provides an efficient and cost-effective armoring solution for

military vehicles, as well as for defended infrastructure such as watch towers, has now
been tested up to STANAG Level 4 to create armor capable of resisting both small arms
and heavy machine gun fire with armor-piercing projectiles.

Summary/Conclusion/ Recommendation

Super Bainite was invented by Defense Science and Technology Laboratorys

(DSTL) Professor Peter Brown, Professor Harry Bhadeshia, Tata Steel professor of
Metallurgy at Cambridge University and Dr Carlos Garcia-Mateo, previously at
Cambridge University and currently at the National Center for Metallurgical Research,
Madrid. DSTL owns the patents relating to the chemical composition and processing of
Super Bainite.
Super Bainite is not only incredibly strong and lightweight, but also cheap and
simple to manufacture. The new armor steel has been developed to have ballistics
properties and, in tests, it has performed better than normal steel armor.
Super Bainite is strong very strong. With a tensile strength of some 2.5
gigapascals, just one square meter can support a weight equivalent to the weight of 2.5
billion apples. It has a higher density interfaces than any other type of metal, and is the
worlds first bulk nanostructured metal.
The strength Super Bainite derives not only from the lack of carbides, but also
from the tiny size iron crystals within its structure. Most types of steel are made up of
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very fine crystals: the smaller and finer the crystals, the stronger the resulting steel will
be. The crystals in Super Bainite are between 20 and 40 nanometers thick, comparable
to the width of carbon nanotubes. In comparison, the crystals in conventional Bainite are
between 200 and 500 namometers thick.
In general, Super Bainite has all the mechanical properties of steel. But its
properties are superior than steel.
Using precise modeling, they determined that there is no lower limit to the
temperature at which Bainite can be produced. By heat-treating it at temperatures
around 200 degrees Celsius (closer to those that are normally used for baking cakes
rather than for manufacturing steel) for 10 or more days, a new form results: Super
Bainite. In addition, by adding elements such as silicon and molybdenum, carbides and
harmful impurity phases are prevented from forming in the steel, reducing the likelihood
of cracks.
This super bainitic steel - or super bainite - process produces steel crystals just
one tenth the size of those in standard steel, making it much stronger. And by carefully
adjusting the quantities of the alloying elements including manganese, silicon,
chromium and molybdenum, the level of carbides could be reduced, making it less
prone to cracking.
The cooking time resulted in a product with highly desirable characteristics, but
the long wait meant that super bainite was only suitable for certain commercial
applications. Through the use of kinetic and thermodynamic modeling, it was found that
by tailoring the composition of Super Bainite and heat-treating it at slightly higher
temperatures, up to 250 degrees Celsius, it could be manufactured in a matter of hours
rather than days, without any significance loss in performance.
And because of the very slow cooking process, which is actually quite simple, the
steel can be made in very large quantities at low costs.
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The outstanding properties of Super Bainite are down to unique production

processes. Traditionally, steel is covered with water to get it to room temperature quickly
before structural weaknesses can form. But with Super Bianite, a whole variety of
cooling methods, using air or even molten salt, are used throughout production.
This revolutionary steel, known as Super Bainite, has undergone a number of
design improvements and has taken on a new name, PAVISE.
The ballistic performance of PAVISE (the way it reacts with the effect of
projectiles) is at least twice that of conventional rolled homogenous steel armor. The
perforated design of the steel creates large number of edges which disrupt the path of
incoming projectiles, significantly reducing their potency.

PAVISE, which provides an efficient and cost-effective armoring solution for

military vehicles, as well as for defended infrastructure such as watch towers, has now
been tested up to STANAG Level 4 to create armor capable of resisting both small arms
and heavy machine gun fire with armor-piercing projectiles.

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References/ Sources
http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2014/06/super-bainite-yields-super-strongsteel
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-armour-steel-showcased-at-dsei
http://www.ploughshareinnovations.com/news-and-events/tata-steel-and-ploughsharesign-deal-to-produce-new-super-bainite-armour-st
http://www.tatasteeleurope.com/showsteelsection?
PRODUCT_ID=1&PRODUCT_TYPE_ID=1&STEEL_ID=47&MARKET_ID=empty&LOC
ATION_ID=UK_MLE&COMMON_STATUS=LOCATION_SELECTED&DISPLAY_IPAD_
PAGE=NO
http://defence.pk/threads/tata-to-unveil-new-lightweight-armour-steel.275679/
http://www.steeltimesint.com/news/view/tata-steels-lightweight-perforated-armour-steel
http://www.army-technology.com/features/featuresuper-bainite-steel-perfection-inimpenetrability-4346392/
http://www.materialsforengineering.co.uk/engineering-materials-news/super-steelcreated-for-tougher-military-vehicles/61890/
http://www.tatasteeleurope.com/file_source/productrange/steels/brochure/1320%20TAT
A%20Pavise%20data%20sheet%20MAY13%20(1)%20(2).pdf
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW9uxb-_2zw

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