Abstract: Theacicular austeniteformation process duringintercritical annealing atslow heating speedof0 5 ℃/ min isinvestigated using TEMin the sample of 30 CrMnSiA. The resultsshow thatinthe preliminarystage, austenitesnucleateintheform ofshortneedle atshort rod like cementites, which hasthesame orientation and precipitates along the boundary of original martensitelathes. Asthetemperatureincreasingslowly, the austenites grow up and connect witheach other alongtheboundaryoftheoriginallathesso astoform acicular austenite. At last,the fully grown austenite connectsin the direction verticalto the boundary of lathes, leavingthe remnant ferrites appear in the shape of rhombus, the original austenite grainshaperecovers and the feature of thethick lath remains. The superledgeinterface has been found and someaustenitegrowsintoferritein theshapeoflath.

Key words: austenitictransformation, intercriticalannealing, acicular austenite