The incubation period of proeutectoid ferrite transformation for Si-Mn transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) steel has been calculated by the Aaronson's incubation period model for transformation. The influences of chemical compositions and hot deformation of austenite on the incubation period have been taken into consideration in the calculation, and some parameters have been proposed and validated with the measured time temperature transformation (TTT) curves from dilation tests. The calculation results show that it is essential to take into account of the effect of solute atoms on the interfacial energy in the austenite grain boundaries. For hypoeutectoid steel, the incubation period of ferrite transformation increases with the increase of C and Mn contents, and C has a greater impact than that of Mn, while the incubation period of ferrite transformation decreases with the increase of Si content. Hot deformation shortens the incubation time and promotes austenite to ferrite transformation. © 2011 Shanghai Jiaotong University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.