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A wide range of properties in crystalline materials is affected by the presence of dislocations, the carriers of plastic deformation. Dislocations can be thought of as filiform structures, characterized by geometrical factors such as their Burgers vector, slip plane, length per unit volume (dislocation density) and line direction. In technical materials such as functional and structural alloys, as well as in minerals, the understanding of bulk deformation driven by dislocation activity is of paramount importance, and thus also the techniques that allow its characterization. Since decades, diffraction contrast in the transmission electron microscope (TEM) is widely implemented to image and describe two-dimensional (2D) projections of dislocation substructures in thin foils [1]. Recently, the use of electron tomography was applied for the first time to fully reconstruct a 3D dislocation network in a GaN epilayer [2]. Although this latter technique has gained popularity, it usually requires an elaborate experimental setup, as well as sophisticated image post-processing methods for a successful reconstruction. Stereoscopic methods in the TEM also have traditionally allowed the three-dimensional (3D) observation of dislocations [e. g. 3]. For this purpose, the same region of a TEM foil is imaged using the same diffraction vector with two beam directions slightly tilted from each other. Subsequently, the pair of images is observed with help of stereo-viewers or 3D glasses. Based on this principle, a system based on a special hardware and software combination was developed for segmentation and analysis of stereomicroscopy data in biological research, and it was also used to analyze simple dislocation structures [4]. In the present contribution a simple software tool is introduced, which has been developed to reconstruct, visualize and quantify dislocation substructures in the thicker regions of electron-transparent foils. A special focus is set on the use of scanning (S)TEM for its implementation.
As depicted in Figure 1, the tool is based on the separate tracing of dislocation line segments on both images of a stereo-pair. The points 1, 2 and 3 are marked on the images viewed by the left and right eyes (Figures 1a and b, respectively), showing an relative displacement Δx on the superimposed images in the anaglyph of Figure 1c. This Δx is given by the point’s depth Δh and by the stereo-angle ϑ, as shown in Figure 1d. By knowing the beam direction for the left and right images (BL and BR, respectively), ϑ can be determined, and hence also Δh. Once the depth information from all traced nodes is gained, a reconstruction is made (Figure 1e) where the line length can directly be read from the tool’s interface. The setup is merely geometrical and only needs the relative tilt between both images, the direction of the tilt axis and the image calibration, thus allowing asymmetrical tilts with respect to the foil normal. The foil thickness is measured directly from the endings of the dislocations on the bottom and top surfaces of the TEM foil, and is determined as t ~ 370 nm for the region in Figure 1. With t, the volume is in Figure 1e is also known, and the total dislocation density of the region is calculated as ρt = 44.4 x 1012 m∙m-3. It is clear from Figure 1 that in the Ni-base superalloy presented here, the dislocation substructures are highly localized towards the interface between the two phases of which the microstructure is composed, γ and γ’ (labeled in Figure 1a). The reconstructed model allows a separation of the dislocation densities within the γ and the γ’ phases and at their interface, which would be rather difficult by using common methods such as the one proposed by Ham [5]. Thus the partial dislocation densities are measured as ργ = 1.7 x 1012 m∙m-3, ργ’ = 2.7 x 1012 m∙m-3 and ργ/γ’ = 40.0 x 1012 m∙m-3. The tool also incorporates the knowledge of the crystallographic positions at the two tilts to enable plotting the line segment orientations. One can chose to display the resulting line directions as an interactive table; as an additional spherical spatial graph, where all lines extend from the center of a sphere; as a 2D plot of the spherical coordinates θ and φ; or as points plotted on a stereographic projection.
Thus, a simple software tool has been developed that allows the reconstruction, visualization and quantification of foil thickness, localized dislocation densities (or other filiform substructures) and orientations based on only one stereo-pair
The LEK94 is a Ni-base superalloy single crystal (SX) of the second generation, a materials class which is important for its high temperature creep resistance (>1000°C) in first stage blades of low-to-medium pressure gas turbines. Monocrystalline Ni-base superalloy SXs have a two-phase microstructure consisting of small cubes (' phase with the ordered L12 crystal structure, cube edge length: 500 nm), separated by thin channels (γ phase with fcc solid solution structure, channel width: 20 nm). The microstructural evolution during high temperature and low stress tensile creep has been thoroughly investigated previously, mainly for [001] loading, both in terms of dislocation activity (filling of γ channels, formation of dislocation networks, cutting of the γ’ phase) as well as phase coarsening (rafting, topological inversion). Other loading geometries have received less attention.
The present work studies high temperature and low stress creep deformation of the superalloy LEK 94 at temperatures around 1000°C, where rafting occurs. Differences between loading under different uniaxial, biaxial and triaxial stress states are discussed. Stereo-microscopy and g∙b analysis in the scanning transmission electron microscopy mode (STEM) are combined for microstructural analysis. The focus is set on the role of dislocation interactions with the aging microstructure. Both development in STEM characterization methods, as well as the roles of phase coarsening, γ channel filling, microstructural heterogeneity and γ’ phase cutting are discussed.
Oxidation of a Fe-13Cr alloy under water vapor at 600 °C produced a zone of nano-sized precipitation underneath the outside scale formed by iron oxides and Fe‒Cr spinel. The majority of the spinel layer shows a mixed orientation relationship to the ferritic matrix {100}α || {100}sp & <011>α || <001>sp. However, also the discovered precipitated particles are characterized by the same crystallographic orientation relationship to the respective ferritic parent grain. The habit of the precipitates is best described by a lath morphology with their main axis parallel to <100> of ferrite.
Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) in an scanning electron microscope (SEM) have been applied to characterize the oxide layer in the micrometer scale. The clearly smaller precipitates were subsequently investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Specimens have been prepared by focused ion-beam (FIB) milling at an area previously characterized by EBSD. They cover the ferritic base material, but mainly the precipitation zone and the Fe‒Cr spinel layer. Energy filtered selected area diffraction (SAD) in the conventional (C)TEM and high-angle annular darkfield (HAADF) imaging in the scanning (S)TEM mode were employed in the characterization of the specimens.
Dislocations, as carriers of plastic deformation, affect important properties in technical materials, e. g., plasticity. The realistic description of plastic deformation caused by dislocations demands the representative measurement of their features, e.g., line direction, slip plane, Burgers vector and density. Bulk deformation of structural and functional alloys requires reliable data from large regions. The filiform nature of dislocations interacting with complex microstructures additionally demands observation and analysis techniques that allow resolving the details of their interactions in space. The use of electron tomography for this purpose is bound to difficult and time consuming experimental setups, which are not always applicable to any material. In this contribution a new tool is presented, which enables the three-dimensional reconstruction, visualization and quantification of dislocation densities and directions from manual tracing of scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) stereo-pairs. Examples are shown from samples of a creep-deformed monocrystalline Ni-base superalloy.
The realistic description of plastic deformation caused by dislocations demands the representative measurement of their features, e.g., Burgers vector, slip plane, line direction and density. In the case of bulk deformation of technical alloys, reliable data must be ensured for large regions. Nonetheless, the (thin) filiform nature of dislocations and also the heterogeneity in some microstructures additionally require flexible analysis techniques that resolve the details of their interactions. Strong and clear channeling contrasts, faint extinction contours and the absence of chromatic aberration make scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) an ideal imaging mode in wide and thick regions of TEM foils, as opposed to conventional (C)TEM. It is the purpose of this contribution to show how STEM can be applied for quantitative measurement of dislocation features. Furthermore, a new tool will be presented, which enables the three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction, visualization and quantification of dislocation densities and directions from stereo-pairs. The application of these techniques will be shown on a monocrystalline Ni-base superalloy, an important class of structural materials that has been implemented in the first row blades of gas turbines. The examples are extracted from specimens subjected to creep deformation at high temperature and low stress under various macroscopic deformation geometries. The spacial and angular accuracy are discussed as well as possible sources of error.
The demand for improved castability and low angle grain boundary (LAGB) resistance has led to the addition of low contents of e.g., B, Hf, Zr or C, into large industrial gas turbine components made of Ni-base superalloy single crystals (SXs). Due to the long-term application of Ni-base superalloy SX components in the temperature regime > 1000 °C, the formation of carbides is highly probable, which could jeopardize mechanical properties, such as high cycle fatigue. In the present contribution, the effect of internal and external stresses on the nucleation and growth characteristics of M23C6 carbides is investigated. Creep experiments are performed on the Ni-base superalloy SX LEK 94, which shows a low C concentration (= 0.1 at. %), at 1020 °C under parallel and circularly notched tensile specimens at a nominal stress of 160 MPa in the crystallographic direction [001]. The carbides are then characterized via scanning (S) and transmission (T) electron microscopy (EM). Nucleation is enhanced in the dendritic cores, often as coalesced colonies, extending over micrometers within M-rich (M: Cr, Re, W, Mo) γ channels. Lath shapes with facets on {100} (parallel to growth direction) and {111} are common. These facets exist since early stages (Fig.1a) and later develop misfit dislocations (Fig.1b), preserving the orientation relationship {100}γ || {100}M23C6. Fig. 1c shows a region from the creep gage, where carbides interact with superdislocations in the γ’ phase. Possible mechanisms are discussed.