3D analysis of phase separation in ferritic stainless steels

The embrittlement of ferritic stainless steels during low temperature aging is attributed to the phase separation with Fe and Cr demixing. The small scale of the decomposed structure with only minor compositional fluctuations and short distances between the enriched and depleted regions has been a challenge for quite some time. A wide selection of experimental and modeling tools have been used to quantify these types of structures. These analyses often focus on rather late stages of decomposition where the mechanical properties are already seriously affected. The recent advance in 3D tools like phase-field and atom probe tomography have created a need for good quantitative procedures of evaluating the structure and also to link results from the continuum approach to the individual atom measurements. This work aims at addressing this need