Retained Austenite Analysis

Steels and steel alloys are an essential component in many everyday applications. Quality control is crucial to maintaining the structural stability of these materials. During the processing of these heat-treated steel alloys, austenite may be retained which could weaken the overall structural integrity of the material used to build our buildings, cars, bridges and much more.

In this experiment retained austenite analysis was performed on the sample shown at the right. The retained austenite phase was identified in the pattern below, taken with Rigaku's MiniFlex II benchtop diffractometer, in a 5.9(0.1)% concentration. The analysis shown was performed using Jade's Whole Pattern Fitting (WPF) program.

Cu Kα radiation (30 kV, 50 mA) Counting statistics: 0.2°/step with a 10-second dwell time

Tags: steel,  alloys, MiniFlex II, powder XRD, quality control,  austenite