Grain-Boundary Characteristics in Austenitic Steel
Grain boundaries are an active area of research interest due to their effect on material property and structure relationships. In order to discuss material properties with regard to grain boundaries it is necessary to know the boundary type. The optimum technique for performing this task is Electron Backscatter Diflfraction (EBSD) in concert with the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). By collecting texture measurements in the form of individual orientations from grains it is possible to obtain misorientation measurements from grain boundaries. These measurements are three of the five degrees of freedom necessary to geometrically describe a grain boundary. The other two can be obtained by a serial sectioning technique.Grain boundaries in austenitic steel specimens, isothermally aged at either 700°C or 800°C, have been evaluated with the aim of relating boundary geometry to Cr2N precipitate formation. Samples were analysed using SEM and EBSD in order to obtain orientation measurements of individual grains to misorientations at grain boundaries and to Cr2N precipitates. These precipitates are detrimental to room temperature properties of high nitrogen stainless steels, so a reduction in their formation at grain boundaries would be advantageous. The steel is therefore an ideal candidate material for relating boundaries to material properties. The 700°C isothermally aged sample induces precipitate formation at grain boundaries whereas precipitation by cellular decomposition of austenite occurs in the 800 CC sample. The 700°C sample was used to categorise boundary types using the CSL model and relate this to Cr2N formation. The 800°C sample was used to examine the effect of aging temperature on boundary inclination. Therefore all five degrees of freedom in grain boundary geometry were obtained.