RESEARCH OF PHASE TRANSFORMATION PRODUCTS IN HIGH STRENGTH STEELS BY ELECTRON BACKSCATTER DIFFRACTION (EBSD)
In the present work, in order to evaluate the metastable structural state of high-strength steel immediately after the phase transformation as well as during the following tempering, the SEM-based EBSD is employed. The lattice orientation gradient in the alfa-phase of steel is mapped by a standard GAM function (“grain average misorientation”) that makes it possible to identify various types of martensite and bainite distinguishable in the dislocation density and phase stresses. The GAM sensitivity to the crystal curvature not only allows one to tell between different types of alfa-phase in the non-equilibrium quenched state but also reveals their change during tempering.