Austenite may contain carbon in any proportion up to about 2.2 It is non-magnetic, and, when preserved in the cold either by quenching or by the presence of manganese, nickel, &c., it has a very remarkable combination of great malleability with very marked hardness, though it is less hard than common carbon steel is when hardened, and probably less hard than martensite.
On cooling into region 6 or 8 austenite should normally split up into ferrite and cementite, after passing through the successive stages of martensite, troostite and sorbite, Fe 0 C= Fe 3 C +Fe(i 3).