Characterization of precipitates in Ti-stabilized steels with low-energy electron-induced X-ray spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy

Various ;inds of precipitates can influence the mechanical properties of Ti -stabilized steels. The qualitative composition of the Ti inclusions can be characterized microscopically, whereas for quantitative information to be obtained time-consuming selective dissolution must be used. The present stu dy aims at chemical speciation of the isolated precipitates as a solid phas e with the help of soft-X-ray spectrometry. Whether the method is capable o f giving both qualitative and quantitative information on the composition o f Ti-mixtures is discussed. The precipitates in Ti stabilized steels are in vestigated after chemical dissolution of the steel matrix with a bromine/me thanol mixture (1:10), By combination of soft-X-ray spectrometry with,X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) both qualitative and quantitative characterization of the precipitates can be performed. Th ey were found to consist mainly of TIC and TIN.