Chemical banding revealed by chemical etching in a cold-rolled metastable stainless steel

The current work describes the metallographic characterization of the initial microstructure of a cold rolled precipitation hardening semi-austenitic stainless steel (12Cr–9Ni–4Mo–2Cu–1Ti, in wt.%). The use of the Lichtenegger and Blöch (L–B) color etching solution has been shown to reveal not only the phases present in the microstructure, but also the existence of chemical banding along the rolling direction. The L–B reagent has been found to color the microstructure in bands depending on what alloying elements have segregated to each band. Two-dimensional electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) maps have shown that Ni, Cu and Ti segregate together in the bands, while Cr has an opposite behavior. Mo has a mixed segregation behavior although much weaker than the other elements and more prompt to segregate like Ni does. A direct comparison of light optical micrographs with the EPMA maps of the same area of the microstructure has enable to establish a direct relationship between the alloying element band concentration and the resulting etching color contrast obtained with the L–B reagent. Thermodynamic calculations predict that solidification in this steel takes place with ferrite as the primary phase. Equilibrium partitioning coefficient calculations seem to support the observed segregation patterns.