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Eingeladener Vortrag
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The progress in activities on Microbeam Analysis under VAMAS/TWA 37 is reviewed. Particularly the liaison with the new projects within the ISO technical committee TC 202 is presented and discussed with respect to the possibility of identifying and launching related VAMAS projects. Need of more promotion for the engagement of more participants from industry and academia at national, European and international level is highlighted. Also, the competition with the other technical working areas (on 'nano' or materials-related) is critically discussed. Further, a short overview of the VAMAS areas of activities is given where Germany is involved.
Signal optimization for transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD) measurements in the scanning electron microscope is investigated by a comparison of different sample holder designs. An optimized design is presented, which uses a metal shield to efficiently trap the electron beam after transmission through the sample. For comparison, a second holder configuration allows a significant number of the transmitted electrons to scatter back from the surface of the sample holder onto the diffraction camera screen. It is shown that the secondary interaction with the sample holder leads to a significant increase in the background level, as well as to additional noise in the final Kikuchi diffraction signal. The clean TKD signal of the optimized holder design with reduced background scattering makes it possible to use small signal changes in the range of 2% of the camera full dynamic range. As is shown by an analysis of the power spectrum, the signal-to-noise ratio in the processed Kikuchi diffraction patterns is improved by an order of magnitude. As a result, the optimized design allows an increase in pattern signal to noise ratio which may lead to increase in measurement speed and indexing reliability.
In the present work, the influence of deuterium on the microstructure of a duplex stainless steel type EN 1.4462 has been characterized by Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) supported by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), focused ion beam (FIB), electron back scattered diffraction(EBSD) and energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) investigations. Characterization has been carried out before and after electrochemical charging with deuterium which has been used as a tracer, due to its similar behavior to hydrogen in the steel microstructure. In a first approach, the distribution of the deuterium occurring at temperatures above 58 °C has been visualized. Further it turned out that sub-surface micro blisters are formed in the ferrite-austenite interface, followed by the formation of needle shaped plates and subsequent cracking at the ferrite surface. In the austenite phase, parallel cracking alongside twins and hexagonal close packed (martensitic) regions has been observed. In both phases and even in the apparent interface, cracking has been associated with high deuterium concentrations, as compared to the surrounding undamaged microstructure. Sub-surface blistering in the ferrite has to be attributed to the accumulation and recombination of deuterium at the ferrite-austenite interface underneath the respective ferrite grains and after fast diffusing through this phase. Generally, the present application of chemometric imaging and structural analyses allows characterization of hydrogen assisted degradation at a sub-micron lateral resolution.
The locally varying tetragonality in martensite grains of a high-carbon steel (1.2 mass percent C) was resolved by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) with a spatial resolution in the order of 100 nm. Compared to spatially integrating X-ray diffraction, which yielded an average tetragonality fo c/a=1.05, the EBSD measurements in the scanning electron microscope allowed to image a local variation of the lattice papameter ration c/a in the range of 1.02 ≤ c/a ≤ 1.07. The local variation of tetragonality is confirmed by two different EBSD data analysis approaches based on the fitting of simulated to experimental EBSD patterns. The resulting EBSD-based tetragonality maps are pointing to a complex interaction of carbon concentration and local lattice distortions during the formation process of martensitic structures.
Synthesis of Molybdenum and Niobium Mono- and Binary Silicides by the Method of SHS-Metallurgy
(2016)
The process of self-propagating high-temperature synthesis of the Mo–Nb–Si silicides from the powder mixtures has been investigated. Based on performed experiments, the composition of powder mixtures as well as technological parameters are proposed which provide the synthesis of monosilicides MoSi₂, NbSi₂, and binary silicides Mo₁-хNbxSi₂ with different ratios of Nb/Mo by adding different contents of MoO₃ and Nb₂O₅. Microstructure and phase compositions of the obtained silicide ingots are characterized by scanning electron microscopy, electron probe microanalysis, X-ray diffraction, and backscatter electron diffraction.
Controlled oriented crystallization of glass surfaces is desired for high precision applications, since the uppermost crystal layer significantly influences the properties of the material. In contrast to previous studies, the data presented here deal with separated crystals growing at defect-free surfaces in four atmospheres with different degrees of humidity (ambient/dry air, argon and vacuum). A glass with the composition 2 BaO–TiO2–2.75 SiO2 was heat-treated at 825 °C until fresnoite (Ba2TiSi2O8) grew to a significant size. The crystal growth rate is found to increase with increasing humidity. The morphology of the crystals changes from highly distorted dendrites in the driest atmosphere (vacuum) to circular/spear-head-shaped crystals in the wettest atmosphere (ambient air), which we attribute to a decrease in viscosity of the glass surface due to water uptake. The least distorted crystals appear in the form of depressions of up to 6 µm. This has an influence on the observed crystal orientation, as measured by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The pulled-in crystals change the orientation during growth relative to the flat glass surface due to an enrichment in SiO2 at the crystal fronts. This confirms that the orientation of crystals is not fixed following nucleation.
The quenching and partitioning (Q&P) heat treatment enables a higher deformability of high strength martensitic steels. The Q&P heat treatment was applied on the martensitic stainless steel 1.4034 (X46Cr13) to study the influence of partitioning time. Therefore, extensive characterizations of the mechanical properties, focussing on the materials behaviour under different mechanical load scenarios, were performed. A comprehensive analysis of the microstructural evolution was per-formed for different heat treatment and mechanical loading states. A complete solution of chromium carbides was detected to be a first requirement for successful Q&P heat treatment. The comparison of common quenching and tempering with the Q&P heat treatment verifies the extensively enhanced materials strength whereat the formability is still acceptable. The microstructural reason was detected to be an increasing aus-tenite fraction due to austenite reversion at subgrain boundaries of martensite besides the stabilising of retained austenite. Further a distinctive strength differential effect was observed.
Sample preparation for analytical scanning electron microscopy using initial notch sectioning
(2021)
A novel method for broad ion beam based sample sectioning using the concept of initial notches is presented. An adapted sample geometry is utilized in order to create terraces with a well-define d step in erosion depth from the surface. The method consists of milling a notch into the surface, followed by glancing-angle ion beam erosion, which leads to preferential erosion at the notch due to increased local surface elevation. The process of terrace formation can be utilized in sample preparation for analytical scanning electron microscopy in order to get efficient access to the depth-dependent microstructure of a material. It is demonstrated that the method can be applied to both conducting and non-conducting specimens. Furthermore, experimental parameters influencing the preparation success are determined. Finally, as a proof-of-concept, an electron backscatter diffraction study on a surface crystallized diopside glass ceramic is performed, where the method is used to analyze orientation dependent crystal growth phenomena occurring during growth of surface crystals into the bulk.
Quenching and partitioning (Q&P) heat Treatment increases the deformability of high-strength martensitic steels. Therefore, it is necessary to have some metastable austenite in the microstructure, which transforms in martensite during plastic deformation (TRIP effect). The austenitic-martensitic microstructure is gained by an increased austenitization temperature, water quenching and additional partitioning. The partitioning enables local carbon diffusion, which stabilizes retained austenite and leads to partial reversion of martensite to austenite. The influence of partitioning time was studied for the martensitic stainless steel AISI 420 (X46Cr13, 1.4034). In line with these efforts, metallographic, XRD and EBSD measurements were performed to characterize the microstructural evolution. The mechanical properties were tested using tension and compression loading. Additional corrosion investigations showed the benefits of Q&P heat treatment compared to conventional tempering. The reversion of austenite by the partitioning treatment was verified with EBSD and XRD. Furthermore, the results of the mechanical and corrosion testing showed improved properties due to the Q&P heat treatment.
The presentation is structured in the following three parts:
i) Report of the Working Group 4 X-Ray Spectroscopy including the publication of ISO 15632:2021 Microbeam analysis — Selected instrumental performance parameters for the specification and checking of energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometers for use in electron probe microanalysis,
ii) Liaison activities between ISO/TC202 Microbeam Anaylsis and VAMAS/TWA34 Quantitative Microstructural Analysis, and
iii) Liaison activities from ISO/TC202 Microbeam Analysis for ISO/TC229 Nanotechnologies.
Most relevant projects are highlighted for information and further discussions. New initiatives and better promotion of strategic projects are addressed.
Quantitative Microstructural Analysis - VAMAS TWA 37 & Liaison with ISO/TC 202 Microbeam Analysis
(2023)
The progress in activities on Microbeam Analysis under VAMAS/TWA 37 is reviewed. Particularly the liaison with the new projects within the ISO technical committee TC 202 is presented and discussed with respect to the identification and launching corresponding VAMAS projects. The ongoing project "FIB sample processing for TEM" is presented in detail.
Quantitative Microstructural Analysis - VAMAS TWA 37 & Liaison with ISO/TC 202 Microbeam Analysis
(2022)
The progress in activities on Microbeam Analysis under VAMAS/TWA 37 is reviewed. Particularly the liaison with the new projects within the ISO technical committee TC 202 is presented and discussed with respect to the possibility of identifying and launching related VAMAS projects. The recently started project FIB sample processing for TEM is highlighted. Need of more promotion for the engagement of more participants from industry and academia at national, European and international level is highlighted. Also, the competition with the other technical working areas (on 'nano' or materials-related) is critically discussed. Further, a short overview of the VAMAS areas of activities is given where Germany is involved. Planed regional VAMAS Workshops in Germany in 2023 are announced.
The progress in activities on Microbeam Analysis under VAMAS/TWA 37 is reviewed. Particularly the liaison with the new projects within the ISO technical committee TC 202 is presented and discussed with respect to the possibility of identifying and launching related VAMAS projects. Need of more promotion for the engagement of more participants from industry and academia at national, European and international level is highlighted. Also, the competition with the other technical working areas (on 'nano' or materials-related) is critically discussed.
Automated electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) is generally unable to distinguish between multiple cubic phases in a specimen without additional information, such as that obtained by simultaneous energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Small particles of phases with relatively similar compositions push the limits of phase identification using simultaneous EBSD and EDS, and a mismatch exists between the spatial resolutions of these two techniques due to them having different electron interaction volumes. In a recent paper, the present authors explored using backscatter detectors mounted on top of the EBSD detector to obtain atomic number (Z) contrast images that could be used for phase segmentation in cases where the results from the EBSD and EDS signals remain ambiguous. In the present work, we show that similar information can be obtained from the raw EBSD patterns themselves at higher spatial resolution than was obtained from the backscatter detectors, with the additional advantage of having no spatial mismatch between the data collection grids.
Oriented surface crystallization on polished diopside glass surfaces has been studied with scanning electron microscopy, electron backscatter diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and laser scanning microscopy.
An orientation preference of [001] parallel to the glass surface was detected for separately growing diopside crystals even as small as 700 nm in size. This finding shows that crystal orientation occurs in the outermost surface layer without crystal-crystal interaction and indicates that the crystal orientation is a result of oriented nucleation. Depending on surface preparation, monomodal crystal orientation distributions with [100] perpendicular to the surface or bimodal distributions with [100] and [010] perpendicular to the glass Surface were detected. It was also shown that the degree of crystal orientation increases with decreasing Surface roughness. The observed orientation of diopside crystals could be explained in terms of the interfacial energies of different crystal faces.
A glass of the composition 37BaO·16CaO·47SiO2 wt% produced on an industrial scale is crystallized at 970 °C for times ranging from 15 min to 2 h. The crystallization at the immediate surface as well as the crystal growth into the bulk are analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) including energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) as well as X-ray diffraction in the Θ–2Θ setup (XRD). The immediate surface shows the oriented nucleation of walstromite as well as the formation of wollastonite and an unknown phase of the composition BaCaSi3O8. All three phases also grow into the bulk where walstromite ultimately dominates the kinetic selection and grows throughout the bulk due to a lack of bulk nucleation. Walstromite shows systematic orientation changes as well as twinning during growth. A critical analysis of the XRD-patterns acquired from various crystallized samples indicates that their evaluation is problematic and that phases detected by XRD in this system should be verified by another method such as EDXS.
Duplex (DSS) and austenitic stainless steels (ASS) are frequently used in many energy related applications. The duplex grade is considered to have outstanding mechanical properties as well as good corrosion resistance. The austenitic phase combines high ductility, even at low temperatures, with sufficient strength, and therefore such materials are applied in storage and transport of high-pressure hydrogen. During service in acidic environments large amounts of hydrogen can ingress into the microstructure and induce many changes in the mechanical properties of the steel. Embrittlement of steels by hydrogen remains unclear even though this topic has been intensively studied for several decades. The reason for that lies in the inability to validate the proposed theoretical models in the sub-micron scale. Among the very few available methods nowadays, Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) enables a highly accurate mapping of hydrogen in the microstructure in a spatial resolution below 100 nm. In the present work ToF-SIMS was used as a main tool in order to investigate the effect of deuterium on a duplex microstructure of lean and standard DSSs during and after the electrochemical charging process. Electrochemical charging simulates the service of a component in acidic environments under conditions of cathodic protection that are commonly applied to prevent corrosion reactions. ToF-SIMS after multivariate data analysis (MVA) was combined with high resolution topographic images and electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) data to characterize the structural changes. It was observed that the ferritic phase was affected almost identical in all steels whereas in the austenitic phase significant differences were obtained in the lean duplex in comparison to the standard DSS. The obtained results have been compared to similar investigations on a AISI 304L austenitic stainless steel. The advantage of the combined techniques is reflected by the ability to correlate the hydrogen distribution in the microstructure and the resulted phase transformation.
The use of duplex stainless steels (DSS) in energy related applications is well known. Nowadays, DSSs become more favorable than austenitic steels due to the outstanding mechanical properties, the good corrosion resistance and the lower nickel content.However, the use of the duplex grade in acidic environments such as seawater can lead to a severe degradation in the structural integrity of the steel by hydrogen-induced/assisted cracking mechanisms, which can eventually result in premature failure. Hydrogen assisted degradation and cracking of steels remains unclear even though this topic is intensively studied for more than a century. The main gap lies in the validation of the proposed theoretical models at the sub-micron scale. Industrial and the research communities define a need for an accurate method by which it is possible to image the distribution of hydrogen in the microstructure. Among the very few available methods nowadays, Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) provides precise mapping of hydrogen in the microstructure. Moreover, the powerful combination of ToF-SIMS with multivariate data analysis (MVA), electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) for providing a the structural information and the use of data fusion techniques can contribute to a better understanding of the hydrogen induced degradation processes in the material.
In the present work two types of duplex grades were chosen as a case study (standard and lean DSS). The duplex class, consist of equivalent amounts of ferrite and austenite, was investigated by ToF-SIMS and EBSD during and after electrochemical deuterium charging in order to simulate the service of a component in acidic environments. Deuterium is known to act on the steel similarly to hydrogen and therefore was used as a tracer for hydrogen. The results show that the ferrite was affected almost identical in both steels whereas in the austenitic phase significant differences were observed in the lean duplex in comparison to the standard duplex. The advantage of the combined techniques is reflected by the ability to correlate the hydrogen distribution in the microstructure to the resulted structural changes.
The effect of electrochemical charging of hydrogen on the structure of a lean duplex stainless steel LDX 2101® (EN 1.4162, UNS S32101) was examined by both Time-of-Flight secondary ion mass spectrometry and electron back-scatter diffraction. The goal is to correlate hydrogen concentration and induced structural changes. Chemical and structural characterizations were done for the same region at the sample's surface with sub-micron spatial resolution. Regions of interest were varying in size between 50 × 50 μm and 100 × 100 μm. The results show a phase transformation of austenite to mainly a defect-rich BCC and scarcely a HCP phase. The phase transformation occurred in deuterium rich regions in the austenite.
Microstructural characterization of the AlMo 0.5 NbTa 0.5 ZrTi refractory complex concentrated alloy
(2020)
A set of some unexpected and interesting microstructures has put the so-called complex concentrated alloys (CCAs) in the eye of the scientific community and the AlMo0.5NbTa0.5TiZr refractory (r)CCA, aimed at substituting Ni-base superalloys in gas turbine applications, belongs to this alloy family. The AlMo0.5NbTa0.5TiZr rCCA was studied by SEM, EDX, EBSD and TEM, showing the presence of a nanoscopic basket-wave structure inside the grains, with two BCC phases. Additionally, thermodynamic calculations on the AlMo0.5NbTa0.5TiZr alloy were done with two different proprietary databases that anticipate two BCC-disordered phases with distinct constitutions as well as an HCP phase.
To visualize the varying tetragonal distortions in high carbon martensitic steels by EBSD, two different approaches have been applied on backscattered Kikuchi diffraction (BKD) patterns. A band-edge refinement technique called Refined Accuracy (RA) (Oxford Instruments) is compared with a technique called Pattern Matching (PM), which optimizes the fit to a simulated BKD signal. RA distinguishes between hypothetical phases of different fixed 𝑐∕𝑎, while PM determines a best fitting continuous 𝑐∕𝑎 by projective transformation of a master pattern. Both techniques require stored BKD patterns.
The sensitivity of the 𝑐∕𝑎-determination was tested by investigating the microstructure of a ferritic steel with an expected 𝑐∕𝑎 = 1. The influence of the Kikuchi pattern noise on 𝑐∕𝑎 was compared for a single or 40 averaged frames per measuring point, and turned out to be not significant. The application of RA and PM on the martensitic microstructure delivered qualitatively similar maps of 𝑐∕𝑎. The comparison of RA and PM shows that RA is suitably fast and precise during mapping the martensite 𝑐∕𝑎 ratio in analyses of high carbon martensite, especially for fast initial surveys. As RA leads quantitatively to higher noise in 𝑐∕𝑎, the PM analysis can be used for higher precision results.
A historical tool for crystallographic analysis is provided by the Hilton net, which can be used for manually surveying the crystal lattice as it is manifested by the Kikuchi bands in a gnomonic projection. For a quantitative analysis using the Hilton net, the projection centre as the relative position of the signal source with respect to the detector plane needs to be known. Interplanar angles are accessible with a precision and accuracy which is estimated to be ≤0.3o. Angles between any directions, e.g. zone axes, are directly readable. Finally, for the rare case of an unknown projection-centre position, its determination is demonstrated by adapting an old approach developed for photogrammetric applications.
It requires the indexing of four zone axes [uvw]i in a backscattered Kikuchi diffraction pattern of a known phase collected under comparable geometric conditions.
The progress in the activities on Microbeam Analysis under VAMAS/TWA 37 is reviewed. Particularly the liaison with the new projects within the ISO technical committee TC 202 is presented and discussed with respect to the possibility of identifying and launching related VAMAS projects/inter-laboratory comparisons. The recently started project FIB sample processing for TEM is presented. Next projects in the pipeline involving EBSD and TKD are shortly announced. The need of more promotion for the engagement of more experts from industry and academia at national, European and international level is highlighted. Also, the competition with the other technical working areas (on 'nano' or materials-related) is critically discussed.
CALM is software for determining the Bravais lattice type and the resulting lattice parameters from a single Kikuchi pattern. It requires the definition of 4 bands and a single bandwidth from which all other band positions as well as bandwidths are derived. For band detection, it uses the Funk transform, which allows detection of twice as many bands as usual. CALM works for any symmetry and requires low-noise patterns of at least 320x240 pixels. The resulting errors are <2% even for such small patterns, assuming good quality. The relative errors are <0.5%. However, this requires a projection centre position best derived from a sample of a cubic phase in CALM. However, this must have been recorded under identical conditions. Hundreds of Kikuchi patterns of phases with different symmetries were examined.
We discuss a refined simulation approach which treats Kikuchi diffraction patterns in electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD). The model considers the result of two combined mechanisms: (a) the dynamical diffraction of electrons emitted coherently from point sources in a crystal and (b) diffraction effects on incoherent diffuse intensity distributions. Using suitable parameter settings, the refined simulation model allows to reproduce various thickness- and energy-dependent features which are observed in experimental Kikuchi diffraction patterns. Excess-deficiency features are treated by the effect of gradients in the incoherent background intensity. Based on the analytical two-beam approximation to dynamical electron diffraction, a phenomenological model of excess-deficiency features is derived, which can be used for pattern matching applications. The model allows to approximate the effect of the incident beam geometry as a correction signal for template patterns which can be reprojected from pre-calculated reference data. As an application, we find that the accuracy of fitted projection centre coordinates in EBSD and TKDcan be affected by changes in the order of 10−3–10-2 if excess-deficiency features are not considered in the theoreticalmodel underlying a best-fit pattern matching approach. Correspondingly, the absolute accuracy of simulation-based EBSD strain determination can suffer frombiases of a similar order of magnitude if excess-deficiency effects are neglected in the simulation model.
We discuss a refined simulation approach which treats Kikuchi diffraction patterns in electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD). The model considers the result of two combined mechanisms: (a) the dynamical diffraction of electrons emitted coherently from point sources in a crystal and (b) diffraction effects on incoherent diffuse intensity distributions. Using suitable parameter settings, the refined simulation model allows to reproduce various thickness- and energy-dependent features which are observed in experimental Kikuchi diffraction patterns. Excess-deficiency features are treated by the effect of gradients in the incoherent background intensity. Based on the analytical two-beam approximation to dynamical electron diffraction, a phenomenological model of excess-deficiency features is derived, which can be used for pattern matching applications. The model allows to approximate the effect of the incident beam geometry as a correction signal for template patterns which can be reprojected from pre-calculated reference data. As an application, we find that the accuracy of fitted projection centre coordinates in EBSD and TKDcan be affected by changes in the order of 10−3–10−2 if excess-deficiency
features are not considered in the theoreticalmodel underlying a best-fit pattern matching approach. Correspondingly, the absolute accuracy of simulation-based EBSD strain determination can suffer frombiases of a similar order of magnitude if excess-deficiency effects are neglected in the simulation model.
Hydrocarbons fuel our economy. Furthermore, intermediate goods and consumer products are often hydrocarbon-based. Beside all the progress they made possible, hydrogen-containing substances can have severe detrimental effects on materials exposed to them. Hydrogen-assisted failure of iron alloys has been recognised more than a century ago. The present study aims to providing further insight into the degradation of the austenitic stainless steel AISI 304L (EN 1.4307) exposed to hydrogen. To this end, samples were electrochemically charged with the hydrogen isotope deuterium (2H, D) and analysed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). It was found that deuterium caused a phase transformation from the original γ austenite into ε- and α’-martensite. Despite their low solubility for hydrogen, viz. deuterium, the newly formed phases showed high deuterium concentration which was attributed to the increased density of traps. Information about the behaviour of deuterium in the material subjected to external mechanical load was gathered. A four-point-bending device was developed for this purpose. This allowed to analyse in-situ pre-charged samples in the ToF-SIMS during the application of external mechanical load. The results indicate a movement of deuterium towards the regions of highest stress.
Cast magnesium alloys welds produced by refill friction stir spot welding (refill FSSW) show low lap shear strength (LSS) and constantly fail in stirred zone (SZ) shear mode. The cause is most probably related to the heavily textured microstructure. Here, to re-engineer the resulting microstructure, we pro- pose a novel process variant, the differential rotation refill FSSW (DR-refill FSSW). DR-refill FSSW stim- ulates discontinuous dynamic recrystallization and produces a bimodal microstructure with weakened texture. Therefore, the deformation incompatibility between SZ and thermal-mechanically affected zone is avoided. The welds have 50% higher LSS than that of standard refill FSSW welds, and fail in a different failure mode, i.e., SZ pull-out mode. DR-refill FSSW provides a new and effective strategy for improving the performance of spot welds based on microstructural engineering.
In the presented research, the high potential and abilities of secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) to detect and locally map the hydrogen distribution in two types of duplex stainless steels are shown. The research validates certain proposed mechanisms by combining ToF-SIMS with high-resolution scanning electron microscopy and electron-backscattered diffraction. The combination of data from several techniques on the same region was conducted in this field for the first time by applying data treatment of the ToF-SIMS raw data and data fusion approach. This powerful combination of methods allows reviewing of the occurring processes related to hydrogen assisted cracking. The step beyond the state of the art in this field was gained here by developing permeation and mechanical loading experiments within the ToF-SIMS during chemometric imaging of the hydrogen distribution in the microstructure. The research presents the necessary correlation between the hydrogen distribution and the resulted structural changes, the diffusion behavior in a duplex microstructure and stress induced diffusion of hydrogen by applying external load at the microscale.
High resolution ToF-SIMS imaging of deuterium permeation and cracking in duplex stainless steels
(2017)
Fundamental understanding and elucidation of hydrogen assisted degradation and trapping mechanisms is dependent on sufficient imaging techniques for respective hydrogen interactions, in particular with multi-phase metallic microstructures. The present work shows the progress in elucidating the deuterium behavior in austenitic-ferritic duplex stainless steels under the consideration that deuterium behaves in many ways similarly to hydrogen. A novel combination of deuterium permeation and in-situ Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) imaging technique is compared with post charging ToF-SIMS imaging experiments. As a step beyond state-of-the-art, integration of chemo-metric and high resolution structural characterization techniques with computational multivariate data analysis (MVA) and data fusion is presented.
Co-Cr-Mo-Werkstoffe sind im Bereich der Biomaterialien weit verbreitet und werden für Endoprothesen eingesetzt. Deren Lebensdauer ist jedoch durch tribologische und korrosive Dauerbelastung begrenzt. Um die Anzahl operativer Eingriffe am Patienten zu minimieren, ist es notwendig den Werkstoff hinsichtlich Verschleißbeständigkeit und Korrosionsbeständigkeit zu optimieren. Hierfür ist ein umfassendes Verständnis der legierungsabhängigen Phasenbildung und –entwicklung während Herstellung und Wärmebehandlung notwendig. An einer speziellen Co-Cr-Mo Legierung werden verschiedene Untersuchungen zur Gefügecharakterisierung durchgeführt. Dabei werden die auftretenden Phasen thermodynamisch berechnet, mittels XRD nachgewiesen, die Phasenmorphologie durch EBSD analysiert, die Elementverteilung durch EDX-Analyse ermittelt und die Ergebnisse durch Farbätzen verifiziert. Das Ziel der Untersuchungen ist es, Optimierungspotentiale bei Herstellung und Wärmebehandlung zu identifizieren.
Pre-Inca civilizations like the coastal cultures Moche and Nazca (Early Intermediate) and the inland culture Wari (Middle Horizon) were agrarian societies which supported indigenous elites of impressive wealth, power, and organization. With the expansion of the Wari Empire, the polychrome style and technique of Nazca propagated to the other cultures. High status burials, most of the Late Moche Fine Line ceramics and a large corpus of ceramics with Wari-derived decoration have been recovered in San José de Moro since 1991. The degree of transfer of procedures in this highly interactive scenario is of special interest: is there a limitation to decoration or is it adopted by the local potters also regarding the formulation of the ceramic bodies? In this context the relative amount, size and type of incorporated non-plastic inclusions as temper are important.
Orientation determination does not necessarily require complete knowledge of the local atomic arrangement in a crystalline phase. We present a method for microstructural phase discrimination and orientation analysis of phases for which there is only limited crystallographic information available. In this method, experimental Kikuchi diffraction patterns are utilized to generate a self-consistent master reference for use in the technique of Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD). The experimentally derived master data serves as an application-specific reference in EBSD pattern matching approaches. As application examples, we map the locally varying orientations in samples of icosahedral quasicrystals observed in a Ti40Zr40Ni20 alloy, and we analyse AlNiCo decagonal quasicrystals.
Tempered martensite-ferritic steels, such as the grade P92 steel studied in this contribution, exhibit pronounced macroscopic cyclic softening under isothermal low-cycle fatigue (LCF) and non-isothermal thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) conditions, which is considered to be the predominant degradation mechanism in high-temperature fatigue in this and other material groups. However, such softening processes are highly complex since microscopic (e.g., recovery) and macroscopic (e.g., crack initiation and growth), as well as global and local effects superimpose, especially under creep-fatigue conditions. In this contribution, we discuss the cyclic deformation and softening behavior of P92 in strain-controlled LCF, in-phase (IP) TMF, and out-of-phase (OP) TMF tests with and without dwell times in the temperature range from 300 °C to 620°C. EBSD-based dislocation analysis on various fatigued material states confirms the continuous redistribution and annihilation of geometrically necessary dislocations in all studied states, which can be quantitatively correlated with macroscopic softening despite different damage mechanisms for different test types. Deviations from this correlation are observed for OP TMF and LCF with dwell times, i.e., for conditions where optical microscopy reveals pronounced crack-oxidation interactions at the specimen surfaces.
Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and scanning electron microscopy were combined to study the effect of residual defect density on corrosion initiation in aluminium alloy AA2024-T3. EBSD was used to determine the level of misorientation (MO), from pixel to pixel, within individual grains. The MO can be determined with respect to either the average orientation angle of the grain or with respect to the average orientation angle of the surrounding pixels (in this instance, a matrix of 7×7 surrounding pixels has been applied). Herein, the MO, determined using the surrounding pixels, was used as the means for the assessing the level of defect density within a grain. It was found that there was a noteworthy, but not definitive, correlation of MO with corrosion initiation after 1 min exposure to 0.1 M NaCl solution. Additionally, the S and θ-phase particles were also identified using EBSD, displaying a range of MO and therefore defect density.
Kikuchi diffraction patterns can provide fundamental information about the lattice metric of a crystalline phase. In order to improve the possible precision and accuracy of lattice parameter determination from the features observed in Kikuchi patterns, some useful fundamental relationships of geometric crystal-lography are reviewed, which hold true independently of the actual crystal symmetry. The Kikuchi band positions and intersections and the Kikuchi band widths are highly interrelated, which is illustrated by the fact that all lattice plane trace positions of the crystal are predetermined by the definition of only four traces. If, additionally, the projection centre of the gnomonic projection is known, the lattice parameter ratios and the angles between the basis vectors are fixed. A further definition of one specific Kikuchi band width is sufficient to set the absolute sizes of all lattice parameters and to predict the widths of all Kikuchi bands. The mathematical properties of the gnomonic projection turn out to be central to an improved interpretation of Kikuchi pattern data, emphasizing the importance of the exact knowledge of the projection centre.
Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) is a technique to obtain microcrystallographic information from materials by collecting large-angle Kikuchi patterns in the scanning electron microscope (SEM). An important fundamental question concerns the scattering-angle dependent electron energy distribution, which is relevant for the formation of the Kikuchi diffraction patterns. Here we review the existing experimental data and explore the effective energy spectrum that is operative in the generation of backscatter Kikuchi patterns from silicon. We use a full pattern comparison of experimental data with dynamical electron diffraction simulations. Our energy-dependent cross-correlation based pattern matching approach establishes improved constraints on the effective Kikuchi pattern energy spectrum, which is relevant for high-resolution EBSD pattern simulations and their applications.
Characterization of the fcc/bcc orientation relationship by EBSD using pole figures and variants
(2004)
The orientation relationship (OR) between fcc and bcc lattices are described by crystallographic fundamentals using the example of Kurdjumov-Sachs (K-S) and Nishiyama-Wassermann (N-W). Complete pole figures containing all variants will be used to distinguish even between slightly different ORs. EBSD on iron meteorites and duplex steel has been used to analyse a large number of crystal orientations with regard to a high statistical significance and a high probability to capture all variants in a single measurement. It is shown that the use of fixed OR models like K-S, N-W, Bain, Pitsch, or Greninger-Troiano does not satisfacturally reflect the observed experimental pole distributions. It is not convenient to use high-indexed lattice planes and directions to describe the small deviations from the given models. The Euler subspace representation offers a readily comprehensible tool to get an idea about the characteristic of the experimentally detected OR.
Characterization of early crystallization stages in surface-crystallized diopside glass-ceramics
(2019)
Structure formation in glass-ceramics by means of surface crystallization is a challenging open question and remains elusive to definite answers. In several glass-ceramic systems, oriented crystal layers have been observed at the immediate surface, including diopside and some fresnoite systems. However, it is still open to debate, whether oriented surface crystallization is the result of oriented nucleation or growth selection effects. In the same vein, there is still discussion whether surface nucleation is governed by surface chemistry effects or by defects serving as active nucleation sites.
In order to help answer these questions, annealing experiments at 850°C have been performed on a MgO·CaO·2SiO2 glass, leading to the crystallization of diopside at the surface. Different annealing durations and surface treatment protocols (i.a. lapping with diamond slurries between 16 µm and 1 µm grain size) have been applied. Particular focus has been put on earliest crystallization stages, with crystal sizes down to about 200 nm. The resultant microstructure has been analyzed by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and two different kinds of textures have been observed, with the a- or b-axis being perpendicular to the sample surface and the c-axis lying in the sample plane. Even at shortest annealing durations, a clear texture was present in the samples. Additionally, selected samples have been investigated with energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy in the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM-EDX). The diopside crystals have been found to exhibit distinguished submicron structure variations and the glass around the crystals was shown to be depleted of Mg.
CALM is software for determining the Bravais lattice type and the resulting lattice parameters from a single Kikuchi pattern. It requires the definition of 4 bands and a single bandwidth from which all other band positions as well as bandwidths are derived. For band detection, it uses the Funk transform, which allows detection of twice as many bands as usual. CALM works for any symmetry and requires low-noise patterns of at least 320x240 pixels. The resulting errors are <2% even for such small patterns, assuming good quality. The relative errors are <0.5%. However, this requires a projection centre position best derived from a sample of a cubic phase in CALM. However, this must have been recorded under identical conditions. Hundreds of Kikuchi patterns of phases with different symmetries were examined.
Approximant-based orientation determination of quasicrystals using electron backscatter diffraction
(2020)
Orientation mapping of quasicrystalline materials is demonstrated using crystalline approximant structures in the technique of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The approximant-based orientations are symmetrised according to the rotational point group of the quasicrystal, including the visualization of orientation maps using proper colour keys for quasicrystal symmetries. Alternatively, approximant-based orientation data can also be treated using pseudosymmetry post-processing options in the EBSD system software, which enables basic grain size estimations. Approximant-based orientation analyses are demonstrated for icosahedral and decagonal quasicrystals.
A paradigm shift in the description of creep in metals can only occur through multi-scale imaging
(2022)
The description of creep in metals has reached a high level of complexity; fine details are revealed by all sorts of characterization techniques and different theoretical models. However, to date virtually no fully microstructure-driven quantitative description of the phenomenon is available. This has brought to interesting inconsistencies; the classic description of (secondary) creep rests on the so-called power law, which however: a- has a pre-factor spanning over 10 orders of magnitude; b- has different reported exponents for the same material; c- has no explanation for the values of such exponents.
Recently, a novel description (the so-called Solid State Transformation Creep (SSTC) Model) has been proposed to tackle the problem under a different light. The model has two remarkable features: 1- it describes creep as the accumulation of elementary strains due to dislocation motion; 2- it predicates that creep is proceeding by the evolution of a fractal arrangement of dislocations. Such description, however, needs a great deal of corroborating evidence, and indeed, is still incomplete.
To date, we have been able to observe and somehow quantify the fractal arrangement of microstructures through Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), observe the accumulation of dislocations at grain boundaries by EBSD-KAM (Electron Back-Scattered Diffraction-Kernel Angular Misorientation) analysis, quantify the kinetic character (solid state transformation) of experimental creep curves, and estimate the sub-grain size of the fractal microstructure through X-ray refraction techniques. All pieces of the mosaic seem to yield a consistent picture: we seem being on the right path to reconstruct the whole elephant by probing single parts of it. What is still missing is the bond between the various scales of investigation.
A constitutive model for the mechanical behaviour of single crystal Ni-base superalloys under high temperature conditions has been developed in the framework of a Cooretec project in cooperation with Siemens AG, MTU Aero Engines AG and University Bayreuth. In addition to the conventional material properties e.g. elastic constants, the model requires the parameters of the initial microstructure as an input. Thus, the γ’-precipitate size and the channel width of the γ-matrix were obtained from SEM micrographs. The model uses the slip system theory and describes the movement, multiplication and annihilation of dislocations in the channels. Furthermore, the cutting of precipitates is another mechanism contributing to the plastic flow. The evolution of the morphology due to rafting and its effects on the deformation have been implemented according to. The kinematic hardening is introduced as a stress tensor to realistically represent the strain hardening of arbitrary oriented single crystals.
The mechanical behaviour of single crystal specimens has been experimentally investigated in tension tests at different strain rates and in creep tests under various loads. The constitutive model has been calibrated based on the experimental data for temperatures of 950°C and 850°C and the [001] and [111] crystallographic orientations.
Finally, a micromechanical model was created to simulate the creep response of additive manufactured polycrystalline structures. An EBSD image is taken to obtain the grain geometry and their respective orientation. The grain boundaries are discretised using cohesive elements, whereas the single crystal model was applied to each grain in the representative volume. The polycrystal model is generated using Dream3D, NetGen and other software previously developed at the BAM.
(Pre)Standardisation and Metrology in Microbeam Analysis – Ongoing Activities and Opportunities
(2023)
The presentation addresses the current ongoing projects as well as the gaps and opportunities in microbeam analysis within ISO/TC 202 Microbeam Analysis standardisation body and in-liaison Technical Working Areas (TWAs) at the pre-standardization platform of VAMAS (Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards).