In-line x-ray phase-contrast tomography and diffraction-contrast tomography study of the ferrite-cementite microstructure in steel

This work presents the development of a non-destructive imaging technique for the investigation of the microstructure of cementite grains embedded in a ferrite matrix of medium-carbon steel. The measurements were carried out at the material science beamline of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) ID11. It was shown that in-line X-ray phase-contrast tomography (PCT) can be used for the detection of cementite grains of several microns in size. X-ray PCT of the cementite structure can be achieved by either a ‘single distance’ or a ‘multiple distance’ acquisition protocol. The latter permits quantitative phase retrieval. A second imaging technique, X-ray diffraction-contrast tomography (DCT), was employed to obtain information about the shapes and crystallographic orientations of the distinct ferrite grains surrounding the cementite structures. The initial results demonstrate the feasibility of determining the geometry of the cementite grains after the austenite-ferrite phase-transformation in a non-destructive manner. The results obtained with PCT and DCT are verified with ex-situ optical microscopy studies of the same specimen.