“…Austenite stability is favored by carbon enrichment (chemical stabilization) as well as austenite particle size refinement 10,42,[46][47][48][49] and NF formation can contribute in both aspects. 45) Several authors 14,21,27,29,34,38,41,42,47,50) have shown that formation of NF during cooling from IAT to IHT (generally considered as epitaxial growth under paraequilibrium conditions) enhances carbon enrichment and subsequent retention of austenite. On the other hand, the austenite particles decrease in size during cooling 31) and very stable small retained austenite can be isolated by the local growth of ferrite at the expense of austenite.…”