This work considers the autocatalytic spread of the martensitic transformation throughout the austenite grains in FeNiC and FeNiMn alloys. Formal descriptions were reviewed. The microstructural path concept was re-introduced. The model's analysis of scale factors reiterated the importance of the martensite–austenite interaction. We compared the initial heterogeneous martensite nucleation in a polycrystalline FeNiC with the nucleation in a Fe30Ni particulate alloy. A cluster of tetrakaidecahedral austenite grains might be a reasonable choice to describe the martensite spread in the FeNiC.
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