Stabilization
The addition of certain alloying elements, such as manganese and nickel, can stabilize the austenitic structure, facilitating heat-treatment of low-alloy steels. In the extreme case of austenitic stainless steel, much higher alloy content makes this structure stable even at room temperature. On the other hand, such elements as silicon, molybdenum, and chromium tend to de-stabilize austenite, raising the eutectoid temperature.
Austenite is only stable above 910 °C (1,670 °F) in bulk metal form. However, the use of a face-centered cubic (fcc) or diamond cubic substrate allows the epitaxial growth of fcc transition metals. The epitaxial growth of austenite on the diamond (100) face is feasible because of the close lattice match and the symmetry of the diamond (100) face is fcc. More than a monolayer of γ-iron can be grown because the critical thickness for the strained multilayer is greater than a monolayer. The determined critical thickness is in close agreement with theoretical prediction.
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