Martensite, named after the German
metallurgist Adolf Martens (1850–1914), is any crystal structure that is formed by
displacive transformation, as opposed to much slower
diffusive transformations. It includes a class of hard
minerals occurring as lathe- or plate-shaped
crystal grains. When viewed in cross-section, the lenticular (lens-shaped) crystal grains appear acicular (needle-shaped), which is how they are sometimes incorrectly described. "Martensite" most commonly refers to a very hard constituent of
steel (the alloy of
iron and
carbon) important in some tool steels. The martensite is formed by rapid cooling (
quenching) of
austenite which traps carbon atoms that do not have time to diffuse out of the crystal structure.
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