Abstract
Abstract A suitable etching technique can distinguish the appearance of microscopic features such as grain boundaries (GBs), annealing twins (TBs), and precipitates, unlike nonmetallic inclusions, voids, and microcracks, which are visible in as-polished conditions. The difficulties arise when a semi-automatic or automatic grain size (GS) analyzer detects the TBs in addition to GBs concurrently. This study introduces a novel etching technique that has selectively highlighted the GBs without or faintly emphasizing TBs in heat-treated additively manufactured (AM) and wrought nickel alloy 718, respectively. The authors then measured the GS using the comparison and intercept procedure (lineal and Abrams three-circle) according to ASTM E112-2013. Moreover, the comparative study identified the comparison procedure as the most effective approach based on accuracy, post-processing, and time consumption. However, it had limitations in terms of precision and applicability. In contrast, the intercept procedure emerged as the preferred choice for higher accuracy demands.
Published Version
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