DOI: 10.3390/met16111173 ISSN: 2075-4701
Automated Phase Characterization in Metal Alloys
Andrii KostryzhevAn automated phase identification system traditionally used for mineral analysis was applied for the first time for phase characterisation in Ni-, Cu-, Zr-, and Fe-base metal alloys. Examples of additively manufactured and deformed components were studied and the effectiveness of the system was demonstrated. The limit for a chemical composition variation between different phases was determined to be 1 wt.%. The proposed methodology shows the most benefit when large sample areas are investigated in high resolution (tens of millimetres squared at a 1-micron resolution were tested in this work). The automatisation of data acquisition up to several days allows a significant saving of workforce time.