The use of X-ray diffraction, microscopy, and magnetic measurements for analysing microstructural features of a duplex stainless steel

X-ray diffraction, light optical microscopy, and magnetization saturation measurements were employed to analyse the microstructural features of a UNS S31803 duplex stainless steel modified by high-temperature treatments. The samples were heated to 1300 °C and cooled by different ways to produce five different microstructures. Solution treatments at 1000 °C were also employed to produce another five conditions. Three methods were employed to determine the austenite/ferrite proportions. X-ray diffraction gave higher austenite values than the other methods, due to the influence of texture, but can be successfully used to determine the microstrain level in each phase. Magnetic saturation measurement is a very simple and precise method for quantification of austenite and ferrite volume fractions in samples that were fast-cooled and slow-cooled. Light microscopy can give a fast and precise measurement of the phase proportions and reveals important features related to the morphology of the phases, but in the samples where the austenite content is low, quantification becomes difficult and imprecise.