- Title
- Dislocation imaging of AISI316L stainless steels using electron channeling contrast imaging (ECCI)
- Creator
- Pullen, Luchian Charton Morne
- Subject
- Electron microscopy
- Subject
- Microscopy -- Technique
- Date Issued
- 2024-04
- Date
- 2024-04
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/64301
- Identifier
- vital:73674
- Description
- This study investigates the use of electron microscopy to image dislocations in high-temperature steels used in the electrical power generation industry. Dislocations play an important role in the mechanical properties of steels, which continuously evolve during component manufacturing and subsequent in-service exposure due to creep and/or fatigue. The dislocation density of the steels can potentially be used as a fingerprint to identify at-risk components that has either reached end-of-life or that was incorrectly manufactured due to forming or heat treatments. Traditionally, dislocation measurements are performed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) performed on thin foils samples. However, accurate and precise measurements of the dislocation density in steels using TEM remain a challenge due to the time-consuming nature, small sampling volumes, and effects of sample preparation on the quantitative results. The aim of this study is to evaluate and establish electron channeling contrast imaging (ECCI) as a scanning electron microscopy method of quantifying the dislocation densities of power plant steels. This method can be applied to conventionally polished bulk samples allowing for large areas to be sampled. Samples consisting of AISI316L stainless steel were used as a model alloy (large grain size ~100 μm) to compare dislocation imaging using annular dark field (ADF)-scanning TEM (STEM) and ECCI. Three materials states consisting of a cold drawn rod (high dislocation density), annealed rod (low dislocation density), and an annealed sample subjected to cyclic fatigue testing (medium dislocation density) were investigated. Systematic investigations into the data acquisition parameters showed that an incident beam energy (20 kV), beam current (~4 nA), pixel size (5 nm), and working distance (4-5 mm) on a JEOL7001F SEM fitted with a retractable BSE detector could successfully image the dislocation structures for the material states used in this study. The ECCI technique was successfully used to determine the dislocation density in the three material states and the quantitative results showed similar trends as the ADF-STEM quantification results, but with less effort. Future studies using electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) orientation mapping combined with electron channeling pattern (ECP) calibrations using a single crystal Si sample will allow for ECCI imaging under controlled grain orientations. Furthermore, accurate image segmentation of dislocations from a micrograph remains a key limitation, which can be improved with the use of advanced image analysis based on deep learning approaches. The quantitative dislocation density techniques demonstrated in this study can be adapted not only for studies of other power plant steels (eg. 9-12% Cr Creep Strength Enhanced Ferritic) but also to other materials systems such as aluminium to study the recrystallization processes during annealing.
- Description
- Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, School of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics, 2025
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (153 pages)
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Science
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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Collections
NMU School of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Pullen, LCM.pdf | 11 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |