Characterization of dual-phase steel microstructure by combined submicrometer EBSD and EPMA carbon measurements

Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) measurements are combined to characterize an industrial produced dual-phase steel containing some bainite fraction. High-resolution carbon mappings acquired on a field emission electron microprobe are utilized to validate and improve the identification of the constituents (ferrite, martensite, and bainite) performed by EBSD using the image quality and kernel average misorientation. The combination eliminates the ambiguity between the identification of bainite and transformation-induced dislocation zones, encountered if only the kernel average misorientation is considered. The detection of carbon in high misorientation regions confirms the presence of bainite. These results are corroborated by secondary electron images after nital etching. Limitations of this combined method due to differences between the spatial resolution of EBSD and EPMA are assessed. Moreover, a quantification procedure adapted to carbon analysis is presented and used to measure the carbon concentration in martensite and bainite on a submicrometer scale. From measurements on reference materials, this method gives an accuracy of 0.02 wt% C and a precision better than 0.05 wt% C despite unavoidable effects of hydrocarbon contamination.