Abstract: The inheritance phenomenon of precipitated V_4C_3 in martensitic transformation has been in- vestigated by means of electron diffraction and matrix analysis.A crystallographic orientation relation among austenite,martensite and V_4C_3 carbide was found to be. (010)_A∥( 10)_M∥(010)_(v_4c_3), [10 ]∥[11 ]_M [10 ]_(v_4c_3) The V_4C_3 first precipitated in austenite,and then was inherited to martensite.Although cer- tain orientation relation was kept between V_4C_3 and martensite,the interfacial structural ana- lysis pointed out that the biphase interfacial energy is higher than that determined by Baker-Nutting relation,thus it is metastable.Because the V_4C_3 precipitated along the crystalline defects in austenite,they could be inherited to martensite.

Key words: V_4C_3, transformation, inheritance, orientation