Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-fv566 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-23T01:18:53.778Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Probabilistic Reconstruction of Austenite Microstructure from Electron Backscatter Diffraction Observations of Martensite

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2021

Alexander Brust ,
Eric Payton ,
Toren Hobbs ,
Vikas Sinha ,
Victoria Yardley  and
Stephen Niezgoda
Alexander Brust*
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH43210, USA Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Dayton, OH45433, USA UES, Inc., Beavercreek, OH45433, USA
Eric Payton
Affiliation:
Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Dayton, OH45433, USA
Toren Hobbs
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH43210, USA
Vikas Sinha
Affiliation:
Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Dayton, OH45433, USA UES, Inc., Beavercreek, OH45433, USA
Victoria Yardley
Affiliation:
Impression Technologies, Ltd., CoventryCV5 9PT, UK
Stephen Niezgoda
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH43210, USA Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH43210, USA
*
*Corresponding author: Alexander Brust, E-mail: brust.15@buckeyemail.osu.edu
Get access

Abstract

The fine microstructure resulting from the martensitic transformation drives many of the desired mechanical properties for quench-and-temper steels. The scale of martensite features correlates with austenite grain size, such that finer austenite grains produce finer martensitic structures. Measuring prior austenite grain (PAG) size from observations of the hierarchical martensitic structure using etch-based techniques remains challenging, especially for fine-grained specimens with low C and P content. This has driven an interest in our field in reconstructing prior austenite microstructure from electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) data collected on tempered martensite. However, reliably reconstructing the data is not straightforward because (1) up to 24 variants can theoretically be observed from a single PAG; (2) the shear-induced plasticity that arises from martensite formation produces significant scatter in the pole figure; (3) there is inherent noise in Hough-indexed EBSD data; (4) annealing twins exist within many PAGs, producing martensite variants of similar orientations when compared with the parent grains; and (5) variation in austenite orientation can occur across a single PAG. To the author's knowledge, the majority of reconstruction algorithms published to date utilize either point-to-point or flood-fill approaches, which can produce artifacts due to the relatively high probability of adjacent EBSD observations falling within any reasonable tolerance angle with 24 variants in a parent and four annealing twin orientations. Therefore, we propose a probabilistic austenite reconstruction technique based on a clustering algorithm known as graph cutting. We demonstrate its application to steels and a binary ferrous alloy, then validate the results against chemical etching and retained austenite orientations. The graph cutting technique utilizes the misorientation distribution of martensitic variants and the potential austenite orientations for each observation, as estimated via Bayesian inference of the experimental orientation relationship and its scatter. It is found that this technique produces accurate reconstructions with identification of annealing twins in the PAGs, even in the presence of a large fraction of poorly indexed data points.

Keywords

microstructure characterizationferrous alloysmartensiteprobabilistic methods
Type
Materials Science Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 27 , Issue 5 , October 2021 , pp. 1035 - 1055
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Microscopy Society of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abbasi, M, Kim, D, Nelson, T & Abbasi, M (2014). EBSD and reconstruction of pre-transformation microstructures, examples and complexities in steels. Mater Charact 95, 219–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abbasi, M, Nelson, T & Sorensen, C (2013). Analysis of variant selection in friction-stir-processed high-strength low-alloy steels. J Appl Crystallogr 46, 716–725.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ASTM Committee E04 on Metallography SEoXR & Metallography E (2013). An interlaboratory study was conducted by seventeen laboratories testing one material to establish a precision statement for test method E2627. Technical Report RR-E04-1008. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM International.Google Scholar
ASTM E112-13 (2013). Standard test methods for determining average grain size. Tech. Rep. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM International.Google Scholar
ASTM E2627-23 (2013). Standard practice for determining average grain size using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) in fully polycrystalline materials. Tech. Rep. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM International.Google Scholar
Bachmann, F, Hielscher, R & Schaeben, H (2010). Inferential statistics of electron backscatter diffraction data from within individual crystalline grains. J Appl Crystallogr 43, 1338–1355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bain, E (1924). The nature of martensite. Trans Am Inst Min Metall Eng 70, 25.Google Scholar
Banerji, S, McMahon, CJ & Feng, H (1978). Intergranular fracture in 4340-type steels: Effects of impurities and hydrogen. Metall Trans A 9, 237–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernier, N, Bracke, L, Malet, L & Godet, S (2014). An alternative to the crystallographic reconstruction of austenite in steels. Mater Charact 89, 23–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bhadeshia, H & Honeycombe, S (2006). Steels, 3rd ed. Woburn, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.Google Scholar
Bowles, J & Mackenzie, J (1954 a). The crystallography of martensite transformations I. Acta Metall 2, 129–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowles, J & Mackenzie, J (1954 b). The crystallography of martensite transformations III. Face-centered cubic to body-centered tetragonal transformations. Acta Metall 2, 224–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowles, J & Mackenzie, J (1962). The crystallography of the {225}F transformations in steels. Acta Metall 10, 625–636.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boykov, Y & Veksler, O (2006). Graph Cuts in Vision and Graphics: Theories and Applications. Berlin: Springer Science+Buisness Media, Inc.Google Scholar
Boykov, Y, Veksler, O & Zabih, R (2001). Fast approximate energy minimization via graph cuts. IEEE Trans Pattern Anal Mach Intell 23, 1222–1239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brust, A, Hobbs, T, Payton, E & Niezgoda, S (2019). Application of the maximum flow–minimum cut algorithm to segmentation and clustering of materials. Microsc. Microanal 25, 924–941.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brust, A, Niezgoda, S, Yardley, V & Payton, E (2018). Analysis of misorientation relationships between austenite parents and twins. Metall Mater Trans A 50A, 837–855.Google Scholar
Brust, A, Payton, E, Sinha, V, Yardley, V & Niezgoda, S (2020). Characterization of martensite orientation relationships in steel from EBSD data using Bayesian inference. Metall Mater Trans A 51A, 142–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cahn, J & Kalonji, G (1982). Symmetry in solid state transformation morphologies. Proceedings of an International Conference on Solid-Solid Phase Transformations, p. 3.Google Scholar
Cayron, C (2007). ARPGE: A computer program to automatically reconstruct the parent grains from electron backscatter diffraction data. J Appl Crystallogr 40, 1183–1188.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cluff, S, Nelso, T, Song, R & Fullwood, D (2018). Crystallographic reconstruction of parent austenite twin boundaries in a lath martensitic steel. Int Conf Ser: Mater Sci Eng 375, 1–11.Google Scholar
Ford, L & Fulkerson, D (1962). Flows in Networks. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Germain, L, Gey, N, Mercier, R, Blaineau, P & Humbert, M (2012). An advances approach to reconstructing parent orientation maps in the case of approximate orientation relationships: Application to steels. Acta Mater 60, 4551–4562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, A & Tarjan, R (1988). A new approach to the maximum-flow problem. J Assoc Comp Mach 35, 921–940.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gomes, E & Kerstens, L (2015). Fully automated orientation relationship calculation and prior austenite reconstruction by random walk clustering. IOP Conf Ser: Mater Sci Eng 82, 1–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greig, D, Porteous, B & Seheult, A (1989). Exact maximum a posteriori estimation for binary images. J R Statist Soc B 51, 271–279.Google Scholar
Greninger, AB & Troiano, AR (1949). The mechanism of martensite formation. Metals Trans 185, 590–598.Google Scholar
Guo, Z, Lee, C & Morris, J (2004). On coherent transformations in steel. Acta Mater 52, 5511–5518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hastings, W (1970). Monte Carlo sampling methods using Markov chains and their applications. Biometrika 57, 97–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hata, K, Wakita, M, Fujiwara, K & Kawano, K (2017). Development of a reconstruction method of prior austenite microstructure using EBSD data of martensite. Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Technical Report 114, pp. 26–31.Google Scholar
Hidalgo, J & Santofimia, MJ (2016). Effect of prior austenite grain size refinement by thermal cycling on the microstructural features of as-quenched lath martensite. Metall Mater Trans A 47, 5288–5301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hong, S & Yu, J (1989). Effect of prior austenite grain size on creep properties and on creep crack growth in 3.5-Ni-Cr-Mo-V steel. Scr Mater 23, 1057–1062.Google Scholar
Horn, R & Ritchie, R (1978). Mechanisms of tempered martensite embrittlement of low alloy steels. Metall Trans A 9, 1039–1053.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Humbert, M, Blaineau, P, Germain, L & Gey, N (2011). Refinement of orientation relations occurring in phase transformation based on considering only the orientations of the variants. Scr Mater 64, 114–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, C (1996). Metallography Principles and Procedures. St. Joseph, MI: LECO Corporation.Google Scholar
Juan, O & Boykov, Y (2007). Capacity scaling for graph cuts in vision. IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision 2007, pp. 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitahara, H, Ueji, R, Tsuji, N & Minamino, Y (2006). Crystallographic features of lath martensite in low-carbon steel. Acta Mater 54, 1279–1288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitahara, H, Ueji, R, Ueda, M, Tsuji, N & Minamino, Y (2005). Crystallographic analysis of plate martensite in Fe-28/5 at% Ni by FE-SEM/EBSD. Mater Charact 54, 378–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurdjumow, G & Sachs, G (1930). Über der Mechanismus der Stahlhärtung (On the mechanism of hardening of steel). Z Phys 64, 325–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackenzie, J & Bowles, J (1954). The crystallography of martensite transformations II. Acta Metall 2, 224–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackenzie, J & Bowles, J (1957). The crystallography of martensite transformations IV. Body-centered cubic to orthorhombic transformations. Acta Metall 5, 137–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malet, L, Barnett, M, Jacques, P & Godeta, S (2009). Variant selection during the c-αb phase transformation in hot-rolled bainitic trip-aided steel. Scr Mater 61, 520–523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matsuda, S, Inoue, T, Mimura, H & Okamura, Y (1971). Toward Improved Ductility and Toughness. Tokyo: Climax Molybdenum Development Company Ltd.Google Scholar
Miller, O & Day, M (1949). Ferric chloride etchant for austenite grain size of low-carbon steel. Prog Mater Sci 56, 692–695.Google Scholar
Miyamoto, G, Iwata, N, Takayama, N & Furuhara, T (2010). Mapping the parent austenite orientation reconstructed from the orientation of martensite by EBSD and its application to ausformed martensite. Acta Mater 58, 6393–6403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miyamoto, G, Takayama, N & Furuhara, T (2009). Accurate measurement of the orientation relationship of lath martensite and bainite by electron backscatter diffraction analysis. Scr Mater 60, 1113–1116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morito, S, Adachi, Y & Ohba, T (2009). Morphology and crystallography of sub-blocks in ulta-low carbon lath martensite steel. Mater Trans 50, 1919–1923.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morito, S, Tanaka, H, Konishi, R & Maki, T (2003). The morphology and crystallography of lath martensite in Fe-C alloys. Acta Mater 51, 1789–1799.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morito, S, Yoshida, H, Maki, T & Morris, J (2006). Effect of block size on the strength of lath martensite in low carbon steels. Mater Sci Eng A 438–440, 237–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nikravesh, M, Naderi, M & Akbari, G (2012). Influence of hot plastic deformation and cooling rate on martensite and bainite start temperatures in 22MnB5 steel. Mater Sci Eng 540, 24–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nishiyama, Z (1934). X-ray investigation of the mechanism of the transformation from face-centered cubic to body-centered cubic. Scientific Report 23. Tohoku Imperial University.Google Scholar
Nishiyama, Z, Fine, M & Wayman, C (1978). Martensitic Transformation. New York, NY: Academic Press, Materials Science and Technology.Google Scholar
Nyyssönen, T, Isakov, M, Peura, P & Kuokkala, V (2016). Iterative determination of the orientation relationship between austenite and martensite from a large amount of grain pair misorientations. Metall Mater Trans A 47, 2587–2590.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Payton, E (2009). Characterization and modeling grain coarsening in power metallurgical nickel-based superalloys. PhD Thesis. The Ohio State University.Google Scholar
Payton, E, Aghajani, A, Otto, F, Eggler, G & Yardley, V (2012). On the nature of internal interfaces in a tempered martensite ferritic steel and their evolution during long-term creep. Scr Mater 66, 1045–1048.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Portier, R & Gratias, D (1982). Symmetry and phase transformation. J Phys Colloq 43, C4–C17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ranger, C, Tari, V, Farjami, S, Merwin, M, Germain, L & Rollet, A (2018). Austenite reconstruction elucidate prior grain size dependence on toughness in low alloy steel. Metall Mater Trans A 49, 4521–4535.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sinha, V, Gonzales, M, Abrahams, R, Song, B & Payton, E (2019 a). Correlative microscopy for quantification of prior austenite grain size in AF9628 steel. Mater Charact 6, 610–618.Google Scholar
Sinha, V, Gonzales, M, Payton, E (2019 b). Datasets acquired with correlative microscopy method for delineation of prior austenite grain boundaries and characterization of prior austenite grain size in a low-alloy, high-performance steel. Data in Brief 27, 104471–104489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sinha, V, Payton, E, Gonzales, M, Abrahams, R & Song, B (2017). Delineation of prior austenite grain boundaries in a low-alloy high-performance steel. Metallogr Microstruct Anal 6, 610–618.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swarr, T & Krauss, G (1975). Boundaries and the Strength of Low Carbon Ferrous Martensites. Baton Rouge, LA: Claitor's Publishing Division.Google Scholar
Swarr, T & Krauss, G (1976). The effect of structure on the deformation of as-quenched and tempered martensite in an Fe-0.2 pct C alloy. Metall Trans A 7, 41–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Takebayashi, S, Ushioda, K, Yoshinaga, N & Ogata, S (2013). Effect of carbide size distribution on the impact toughness of tempered martensitic steels with two different prior austenite grain sizes evaluated by instrumented charpy test. Mater Trans 54, 1110–1119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vander Voort, G (1984). Metallography: Principles and Practice. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Co.Google Scholar
Vander Voort, G (2010). Revealing prior austenite grain boundaries. Microsc Microanal 16, 774–775.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vilella, J (1938). Metallographic Technique for Steel. Cleveland, OH: American Society for Metals.Google Scholar
Wassermann, G (1935). Über den Mechanismus der α − >γ Umwandlung des Eisens (On the mechanism of the α − >γ transformation of iron). Mitt Kaiser-Wilhelm Inst Eisenforsch 17, 149–155.Google Scholar
Wayman, C (1964). Introduction to the Crystallography of Martensitic Transformations. Macmillan series in Materials Science. New York, NY: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Wechsler, M, Lieberman, D & Read, T (1953). On the theory of the formation of martensite. Trans AIME 197, 1503–1515.Google Scholar
Weyand, S, Britz, D, Rupp, D & Mucklich, F (2015). Investigation of austenite evolution in low-carbon steel by combining thermo-mechanical simulation and EBSD data. Mater Perform Charact 4, 322–340.Google Scholar
Yardley, V, Fahimi, S & Payton, E (2015). Classification of creep crack and cavitation sites. Mater Sci Technol 31, 547–553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yardley, V & Payton, E (2014). Austenite–martensite/bainite orientation relationship: Characterisation parameters and their application. Mater Sci Technol 30, 1125–1130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yardley, VA, Payton, EJ, Matsuzaki, T, Sugiura, R, Yokobori, AT Jr, Tsurekawa, S & Hasegawa, Y (2012). EBSD analysis of creep cracking in a 12 wt% Cr tempered martensite ferritic steel. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Creep and Fracture of Engineering Materials and Structures, Kyoto, Japan.Google Scholar
Zipperman, D (2011). Metallographic Handbook. Tucson, AZ: PACE Technologies.Google Scholar