Hello everyone,
I have captured some images of 17-4 PH stainless steel under SEM. My objective is to determine the fraction of ferrite and martensite in the microstructure. I was planning to do this by difference in visual texture, but I am not certain which portion is ferrite and which is martensite. So, I decided to use carbon content from EDS to determine which texture in the image corresponds to martensite, however, the carbon, being a lightweight element, does not provide reliable results in EDS (in our lab). Thus, the only way to determine martensite and ferrite is the relative percentage of chromium, nickel, and copper. I found some literature stating relative content of chromium, nickel, and copper (Article Nanosecond Laser Fabrication of Hydrophobic Stainless Steel ...
), however, my EDS analyses do not show a stark difference in content. Could you please help me on how I can use EDS to differentiate ferrite and martensite?Thank you for your time!
Best regards,
Akanksha
Fundamentally, XRD or EBSD techniques are used to identify the different phases with estimating the volume fraction of each phase. However, EDS is used for micro-scale chemical composition except for light elements such as C and N.
If I am a reviewer of your paper, I will not accept EDS as a tool to identify phases.
Hi
I would recommend dot-maping of XR scanning to identify the various elements in different phases. Then from the obtained maps of each phase you can determine the fraction of each phase presented in the whole dot-map of the sample.
Color etching will be helpful differentiating delta ferrite from martensite. You can refer to this RG discussion: https://www.researchgate.net/post/What-is-the-best-etching-method-for-17-4-PH.
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