Effect of Various Heat Treatments on the Microstructure of 316L Austenitic Stainless Steel Coatings Obtained by Cold Spray.

Industries developing cold spray aim at dense and resistant coatings for component repair. However, as-sprayed 316L coatings display non-equilibrium microstructure and brittle fracture behavior. Improving their mechanical properties requires controlling their microstructure; post-spraying heat treatment is a promising approach.

Accurate quantification of phosphorus intergranular segregation in iron by STEM-EDX.

This study describes a method to quantify phosphorus grain boundary segregation by Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy in Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM-EDX). A "box-type method" is employed, removing the long-discussed problems of interaction volume and the beam broadening effect. The proposed methodology also introduces a novel way of subtracting the spectrum background to remove the influence of coherent Bremsstrahlung and spurious peaks.