Identification and quantification of martensite in ferritic-austenitic stainless steels and welds

This paper aims at the phase identification and quantification in transformation induced plasticity duplex stainless steel (TDSS) base and weld metal containing ferrite, austenite, and martensite. Light optical microscopy (LOM) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis were employed to analyze phases. Samples were either mechanically or electrolytically polished to study the effect of the preparation technique. Mechanical polishing produced up to 26% strain-induced martensite. Electrolytic polishing with 150 g citric acid, 300 g distilled water, 600 mL H3PO4, and 450 mL H2SO4 resulted in martensite free surfaces, providing high-quality samples for EBSD analysis. Martensite identification was challenging both with LOM, due to the similar etching response of ferrite and martensite, and with EBSD, due to the similar lattice structures of ferrite and martensite. An optimized Beraha color etching procedure was developed that etched martensite distinctively. A novel step-by-step EBSD methodology was also introduced considering grain size and orientation, which successfully identified and quantified martensite as well as ferrite and austenite in the studied TDSS. Although here applied to a TDSS, the presented EBSD methodology is general and can, in combination with knowledge of the metallurgy of the specific material and with suitable adaption, be applied to a multitude of multiphase materials. It is also general in the sense that it can be used for base material and weld metals as well as additive manufactured materials. This study received support from the EU-project H2020-MSCA-RISE-2018 Number 823786, i-Weld, and the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth through the European Union–European Development Fund