I have performed the etching of samples obtained from friction stir welding of dissimilar aluminium alloys of 2xxx and 7xxx series. If I keep the etching time less, 7xxx grains were not revealed and on increasing the time, etch pits appears in large number.
Grain structure revelation of FSW ed dissimilar Al alloys by standard etching method is always difficult. A new method suggested by M Mohammadtaheri (Metallogr. Microstruct. Anal. (2012) 1:224–226) could be utilized with limited success (good skill required).
Two commonly used alternatives you can try:
1) Use electro-polishing in Struers A2 solution followed by anodizing with Barkers reagent. You need to observe the microstructure under polarized light.
2) A much better way will be to utilize the EBSD technique to generate IPF maps with host of quantitative analytical data (misorientation, grain boundary character, grain size, strain maps etc.).
Hope this will solve your problem.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Physical Sciences
- Materials Science
- Materials
- Inorganic Materials
- Metals
- Alloys
- Steel