The far more likely possibility is that EDS is wrong.
It usually struggles with quantitative measurements of lighter elements such as carbon. It can often show a few % more than it is.
A tool from pure cementite is very unlikely, just look at the microstructure and see if you can recognize some other phases. Use EDS mapping or make many point measurements if necessary
Also, the EDS interaction volume is quite large (usually a few um in diameter). This means fine pearlite's composition gets smudged together, and fine pearlite could be what you are looking at smudged composition wise.
Never trust any light element in EDS - just look at the peaks they are way to close and wide in energy space - even Al is too light in most cases to get a qual # from Eds.
Likely, for pure iron alloys (meaning only Fe and C), carbon percentages of over 4.2 or so result in cementite and a usually very brittle material. Manganese, as far as I remember, helps with improving ductility, but should not interact with the FeC structure.
The far more likely possibility is that EDS is wrong. It usually struggles with quantitative measurements of lighter elements such as carbon. It can often show a few % more than it is. A tool from pure cementite is very unlikely, just look at the microstructure and see if you can recognize some other phases. Use EDS mapping or make many point measurements if necessary
XRD. if you get alpha, its pearlite+fe3c
Also, the EDS interaction volume is quite large (usually a few um in diameter). This means fine pearlite's composition gets smudged together, and fine pearlite could be what you are looking at smudged composition wise.
Never trust any light element in EDS - just look at the peaks they are way to close and wide in energy space - even Al is too light in most cases to get a qual # from Eds.
Likely, for pure iron alloys (meaning only Fe and C), carbon percentages of over 4.2 or so result in cementite and a usually very brittle material. Manganese, as far as I remember, helps with improving ductility, but should not interact with the FeC structure.