Abstract
Structural evolution during solidification of austenitic stainless steel welds plays a crucial role in solidification cracking and microsegregation. Currently, there is no unambiguous method available to study the solidification mechanism in detail. The present investigation was undertaken to explore the potential of color metallography for revealing solidification structures. Weld composition was altered by adding varying amounts of nitrogen such that its location with respect to the phase diagram is moved in a specified direction. The controlled variations in the solidification mechanism thus brought about were studied metallographically, using Beraha's etchant and electron microprobe analysis. Metallographic studies complemented by electron probe microanalysis demonstrated color metallography to be a highly useful, simple, and reliable technique for revealing solidification structures. Color etching enables the quantitative estimation of high-temperature phases in the ferritic-austenitic mode of solidification. It also reveals the three-phase reaction mechanism in the (L+δ+γ) region in detail. In fully austenitic structures, color etching reveals the growth patterns of cell structures and the effective interface area where impurities are expected to segregate.
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