Comparison of different methods for measuring

strain induced a9-martensite content in austenitic

steels
J. Talonen, P. Aspegren and H. Hänninen

Several techniques for measuring the strain induced a9-martensite content in EN 1.4318 (AISI 301LN) and
EN 1.4301 (AISI 304) austenitic stainless steels were compared in order to determine a correlation curve between
Ferritescope measurement results and actual a9-martensite contents. The studied methods involved Satmagan
measurement, magnetic balance measurement, X-ray diffraction, density measurement and quantitative optical
metallography. Satmagan, magnetic balance and density measurements were found to give equal a9-martensite
contents. X-ray diffraction results were affected by the texture but averaging of several diffraction peaks improved
the reliability of the results. It was shown that a9-martensite can be detected by means of optical metallography, but
quantitative analysis is time consuming and inaccurate. The relationship between the Ferritescope results and actual
a9-martensite contents measured with the other techniques was found to be linear. According to the results, the
Ferritescope readings can be converted to actual a9-martensite contents by multiplying with a correction factor of
1.7. MST/6120

Keywords: Strain induced martensite, Austenitic stainless steel, Ferritescope

Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd

Mr Talonen and Dr Hänninen are in the Laboratory of Engineering Materials, Helsinki University of Technology, PO Box
4200, FIN – 02015 HUT, Finland (Email: hannu.hanninen@hut.fi). Mr Aspegren is with Outokumpu Stainless Oy, FIN – 95400
Tornio, Finland. Manuscript received 26 January 2004; accepted 24 August 2004.
# 2004 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. Published by Maney on behalf of the Institute.

Correction terms to calculate corrected a9-martensite

Introduction
Strain induced e- and a9-martensite phases form during
plastic deformation of metastable austenitic stainless steels.
The formation of a9-martensite affects significantly the
mechanical behaviour of the steels by enhancing the work
hardening.1 The mechanisms of martensitic transformations
have been studied extensively. It has been established that
a9-martensite is nucleated in the austenite phase at the
intersections of shear bands that consist of e-martensite,
stacking fault bundles and mechanical twins.2 – 4 The
amount of a9-martensite increases with increasing plastic
strain at the expense of austenite and e-martensite phases.
The extent of a9-martensite transformation depends
strongly on the steel composition and the temperature at
which the deformation takes place.5 The strain rate,1,6,7
grain size8 and the type of the applied deformation6,7 also
affect the rate of a9-martensite formation.
Because the cAa9 transformation plays an important role
in the mechanical behaviour of steels, measurement of the
strain induced a9-martensite content is an important
requirement when investigating the plastic deformation of
austenitic stainless steels. Several techniques are available
for this measurement. The most common methods involve
X-ray diffraction and techniques based on the ferromagnet-
ism of the a9-martensite phase. a9-martensite contents have
also been determined by density measurements.6
X-ray diffraction can be used for quantitative phase
analysis, because the austenite and a9-martensite phases
have different crystal structures. A disadvantage of X-ray
diffraction is inaccuracy because of the texture that is
present in the sheet materials especially after plastic
deformation.9 The effect of texture can be reduced by
averaging intensities of several diffraction peaks.10 Cheary
and Ma-Sorrell11 corrected the effect of texture by
determining texture functions by measuring the intensities
of the c(111) and a9(110) reflections as a function of y angle
(the angle between the specimen surface and X-ray beam).
content were derived from the texture functions. In addition
to the problems caused by the texture, X-ray diffraction
measurements are also expensive, time consuming and
cover only a thin layer on the specimen surface. For c(111)
peaks, the depth at which 95% of X-rays are scattered was
calculated to be 2.6, 6.2, 8.7 and 8.7 mm when using Cu
Ka, Co Ka, Cr Ka and Mo Ka radiations, respectively.12
In addition, for most X-ray diffraction equipment a
small specimen must be cut from the material for the
measurement.
Measurements based on ferromagnetism of a9-martensite
phase involve measurement of magnetic force acting on the
specimen placed in a magnetic field1,5,13 – 15 and measure-
ment of magnetisation.7,16,17 As in the case of X-ray
diffraction, these methods normally require that the speci-
mens are cut from the test material. The easiest magnetic
technique to measure the a9-martensite content is by using a
Ferritescope, a device that is normally used to measure the
d-ferrite content of austenitic stainless steel weldments. The
measurement is non-destructive, takes only a few seconds
and can be performed in situ. The operational principle of
the Ferritescope is based on the determination of the
magnetic permeability of the material. This causes an error
in the measured values because the magnetic permeability of
a9-martensite is a function of strain.7 Therefore, the results
obtained with a Ferritescope have to be converted to actual
a9-martensite contents by using a calibration curve.
Calibration curves have been determined by using different
measurement techniques.7,14,18,19 Comparison of the curves
is shown in Fig. 1, where it can be observed that there is a
disagreement between the references. The method by which
the actual a9-martensite content has been determined does
not explain the differences, because a Satmagan equipment
was used by Rintamaa,14 a magnetometer by Hecker et al.7
and X-ray diffraction by Peterson18 and Hünicke.19
The aim of this paper is to determine a reliable correlation
between the Ferritescope measurement results and actual
a9-martensite contents. To confirm the reliability of the

1506 Materials Science and Technology December 2004 Vol. 20 DOI 10.1179/026708304X4367
 Talonen et al. Measuring strain induced a9-martensite in austenitic steels 1507
1 Comparison of the calibration curves between the Fer-
ritescope and actual a9-martensite contents presented
in literature
results several different measurement techniques were
compared. The studied methods were Satmagan measure-
ment, X-ray diffraction, density measurement and quanti-
Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd
tative optical metallography. Furthermore, a magnetic
balance based on a permanent magnet was constructed.
Experimental procedure
TEST MATERIALS AND SAMPLE
PREPARATION
The test materials were commercial austenitic stainless
steel grades EN 1.4301 (AISI 304) and EN 1.4318
(AISI 301LN). The chemical compositions of the steels
are given in Table 1.
The specimens were strained in tension or by cold rolling at
room temperature to obtain different a9-martensite contents.
The pre-straining was assumed to produce a uniform
distribution of strain induced a9-martensite in the samples.
Specimens for destructive a9-martensite measurements were
cut from the strained sheets with an abrasive cutting machine
and the edges of the specimens were finished with SiC emery
paper. It was not possible to perform the measurements with
different techniques on the same samples because specimens
with different dimensions were required for Satmagan and
X-ray diffraction measurements, and in the density measure-
ments maximising the specimen size was preferable in order
to obtain best possible accuracy.
Ferritescope and X-ray diffraction measurements were
performed mainly on electropolished surfaces. Some trials
were carried out also on as received surfaces. Surface
treatment was considered to have no effect on Satmagan,
magnetic balance and density measurements, as these
techniques cover the whole volume of the specimen.
Electropolishing was performed with a Struers Lectropol-
5 equipment using A2 electrolyte (78 mL perchloric acid,
120 mL distilled water, 700 mL ethanol and 100 mL butyl
cellosolve) at 20 V at room temperature.
FERRITESCOPE MEASUREMENTS
The a9-martensite content of all specimens was measured
with a Ferritescope (Helmut Fischer GmbH, model MP3C).
Table 1 The chemical compositions of the test materials (mass %)
Grade Thickness C N Si P S
EN 1.4318 1 mm 0.019 0.094 0.48 0.028
EN 1.4318 2 mm 0.024 0.106 0.52 0.027
EN 1.4301 2 mm 0.046 0.050 0.38 0.031
Materials Science and Technology
The device was calibrated with d-ferrite samples and its
measurement range was 0 – 60% d-ferrite. Five measure-
ments were performed on each sample at arbitrary locations
on the specimen surface. The results measured from thin
specimens were corrected with a correction curve provided
by the manufacturer.20
X-RAY DIFFRACTION MEASUREMENTS
Two different types of X-ray diffraction (XRD) equipment
were used in this investigation. One consisted of a Siemens
Kristalloflex 710H X-ray generator, Co Ka tube and INEL
CPS120 position sensitive detector. With this equipment,
five austenite peaks and four a9-martensite peaks could be
detected. To eliminate the effect of texture, the intensities of
the measured diffraction peaks were averaged and the
specimen was rotated in w angle during the measurement.
The other equipment was Stresstech XSTRESS 3000 X-ray
stress analyser with Cr Ka tube and a semiconductor
detector. With this equipment, only c(220)- and a9(211)-
peaks were detected. In order to eliminate the effect of
texture, the X-ray beam was tilted ¡45u in w and y angles
during the measurements. The dimensions of the XRD
specimens were 10610 mm2.
The X-ray diffraction data was analysed with Microcal
Origin software. The a9-martensite volume fractions were
determined from X-ray diffraction data by using the
equation21
Ic Rc Vc
~ : : : : : : : : : : : : : (1)
Ia 0 Ra0 Va0
where Ic and Ia9 are the integrated intensities of austenite
and a9-martensite reflections, Rc and Ra9 are constants and
Vc and Va9 are volume fractions of austenite and a9-
martensite phases, respectively. By assuming that
VczVa9~1, the volume fraction of a9-martensite can be
solved as
Ia0 Rc
Va0 ~ : : : : : : : : : : : (2)
Ic Ra0 zIa0 Rc
The constants Rc and Ra9 are determined by the crystal
structure, composition and lattice parameters of the studied
phases, given by22
 
1
R~ 2 F 2 p(LP) exp ({2M) : : : : : : : (3)
v
where v is the unit cell volume, F2 is the structure factor, p is
the multiplicity factor, LP is the Lorentz polarisation factor
and exp(22M) is the temperature factor. Values of these
factors were taken from Refs. 22 and 23. The R values of
the measured XRD peaks for Co Ka and Cr Ka radiations
are presented in Table 2. For Cr Ka radiation, the R values
were not calculated but taken from Ref. 24.
SATMAGAN MEASUREMENTS
A series of specimens was measured with a Satmagan
device. The Satmagan is a magnetic balance that is used to
determine the content of the ferromagnetic phase in a
specimen. In a Satmagan measurement a saturating
magnetic field is applied to the specimen that is placed in
a sample holder. The magnetic field causes a force that is
recorded by adjusting a potentiometer. The relation
between the potentiometer reading S and the content of
Cr Mn Ni Cu Mo
0.002 17.6 1.61 6. 6 0.22 0.14
0.001 17.5 1.23 6. 4 0.28 0.17
0.002 18.1 1.73 8. 1 0.23 0.24
December 2004 Vol. 20
 1508 Talonen et al. Measuring strain induced a9-martensite in austenitic steels
the ferromagnetic phase is expressed as14
ca0 Msat
S~K : : : : : : : : : : : : : (4)
r
where K is constant, ca9 is the mass percentage of the
ferromagnetic phase, Msat is the saturation magnetisation of
the ferromagnetic phase and r is density. The value of
constant K is determined by empirical calibration. In this
investigation the calibration constant determined by
Rintamaa14 was used. Assuming that the saturation
magnetisation of a9-martensite is 1.65 T (in fact, the value
of saturation magnetisation depends on the steel composi-
tion and density, but this error was regarded as negligible),
the a9-martensite content ca9 can be calculated from the
potentiometer reading S by using equation14
ca0 (mass%)~0:1266|S : : : : : : : : : : (5)
The size of the Satmagan samples was 9610 mm2.
MAGNETIC BALANCE
The principle of measuring the force acting on a
Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd
ferromagnetic sample placed in a magnetic field was applied
by constructing a magnetic balance using the original idea
of Livitsanos and Thomson.15 The equipment consisted of
an analytical balance, an AlNiCo permanent magnet
attached to the stage of the balance and a stage made of
aluminium on which the sample was placed for the
measurement. The tip of the magnet was conical to
minimise the effect of size and surface roughness of the
specimen. The force acting between the specimen and
the magnet (the force needed to disconnect the sample from
the magnet) was measured by lifting the stage by adjusting a
screw. The measured force is proportional to the mass
content of a9-martensite. Therefore, a9-martensite content
can be calculated by dividing the measured force with the
force characteristic of a fully martensitic sample.
The main difference between the magnetic balance and
Satmagan is that in a Satmagan measurement the sample is
fully saturated by the applied magnetic field – a situation
that is not present when using a relatively weak permanent
magnet. Therefore, the size of the specimen, especially the
thickness, affects the force acting between the sample and
the magnet. In this investigation, all measurements were
performed on originally 20 mm wide and 220 mm long
tensile test specimens. The changes in the dimensions
because of plastic straining were found to have no
significant influence on the results. The thickness of the
samples varied between 0.9 and 2.0 mm. The thickness
calibration was performed by determining an experimental
calibration curve by measuring fully martensitic specimens
of different thicknesses. X-ray diffraction was used to
confirm the fully martensitic microstructure of the calibra-
tion samples. Both cold rolled and tensile strained samples
were used for calibration and no difference between them
was found. With both the Satmagan device and the
magnetic balance the effect of steel composition was
neglected.
Table 2 The values of R for the austenite and a9-
martensite reflections
XRD peak R (Co Ka) R (Cr Ka)
c(111) 138.4
c(200) 62.7
c(220) 36.8 47.9
c(311) 56.9
c(222) 19.5
a9(110) 206.2
a9(200) 29.1
a9(211) 65.0 190.8
a9(220) 32.1
Materials Science and Technology December 2004 Vol. 20
DENSITY MEASUREMENTS
Because austenite and a9-martensite phases have different
crystal structures, their densities are not equal. If the
densities of both phases are known, the content of a9-
martensite phase can be determined by measuring the
density of the specimen. However, this requires that a9-
martensite content is assumed to be a linear function of the
density, which is not exactly true owing to the crystal defects
in both phases. The densities of the austenite and a9-
martensite phases were determined by using the equation
nA
r~ : : : : : : : : : : : : : : (6)
VNA
where n is the number of atoms in a unit cell (two in a9-
martensite, four in austenite), A is the atomic weight, V is
the volume of a unit cell and NA is Avogadro’s number. The
volume of the unit cell was calculated by using X-ray
diffraction data (Co Ka radiation, using the same equipment
as for a9-martensite measurements). Average atomic
weights were derived from the chemical composition data
that was given in mass percentages. The density measure-
ments were performed utilising the Archimedean principle.
The mass of the samples was first measured with a Mettler
Toledo AG204DR balance having the repeatability of
0.0001 g. The volume of the specimen was then determined
by immersing the specimen in distilled water placed on the
balance. The specimen was supported with 0.1 mm thin
fishing line. A small amount of wetting agent was added to
the water to improve its wettability. The density of the
specimen was calculated by using equation
mA rW
r~ : : : : : : : : : : : : : : (7)
mW
where mA is the mass of the specimen weighed in air, mW is
the mass of the specimen weighed in distilled water and rW
is the density of distilled water.25 The specimens were about
10 mm wide and 50 mm long and, depending on the sheet
thickness, their mass ranged between 7 and 14 g. Therefore,
the accuracy of the balance enabled the martensite contents
to be measured with the accuracy of ¡0.5 mass %. The
measurements were performed at room temperature, which
varied about ¡2uC during the measurements. The tem-
perature of the water was recorded during the measure-
ments and the effect of the temperature on the density of
water was taken into account in the analysis.25 The effect of
temperature on the density of the phases was neglected. The
effect of the volume of the line used to support the specimen
was also considered negligible. All samples were measured
three times.
OPTICAL METALLOGRAPHY
a9-martensite was detected by means of optical metallo-
graphy using Ferrofluid. The cross-sections of the test
materials, cut with an abrasive cutting machine, were
ground with SiC emery paper up to a roughness of 2500 grit
and then electropolished with the procedure described
above. The grain boundaries were etched electrolytically
with aqueous nitric acid (60 vol.-% HNO3 and 40 vol.-%
H2O) at 1.5 V for 30 s. To colour the a9-martensite phase,
Ferrofluid (Ferrotec Corporation EMG 308) was used.
Ferrofluid is a water based liquid that contains small
magnetic particles with an average diameter of 10 nm. The
Ferrofluid was diluted with water (1 part Ferrofluid, 30
parts water) and a small amount of wetting agent was added
to the solution. The solution was applied to the polished
and etched specimen surfaces with a syringe. As a result, the
small magnetic particles were attached to the ferromagnetic
a9-phase, which was coloured dark. After the preparation,
the specimens were investigated with a Nikon Epiphot
microscope.
 Talonen et al. Measuring strain induced a9-martensite in austenitic steels 1509

3 a9-martensite contents (in mass %) measured by

2 X-ray diffraction spectra of as received and electropol- means of X-ray diffraction and plotted as a function of
ished EN 1.4318 2B steel specimens Ferritescope reading

Results SATMAGAN MEASUREMENTS

Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd

The relationship between the Ferritescope readings F

RESULTS OF THE X-RAY DIFFRACTION and the a9-martensite contents ca9 measured with Satmagan
MEASUREMENTS is shown in Fig. 4. The relationship seems to be linear and
no difference can be observed between tensile strained and
Effect of surface condition
cold rolled specimens. Fitting of a linear function to the
The first X-ray diffraction measurements performed on the as data gives the following equation with R2~0.992
received steel surfaces revealed that in unstable EN 1.4318
steel a9-martensite was present even on the surface of 2B ca0 (mass%)~0:261z1:714|F : : : : : : : (11)
(cold rolled, soft annealed and skin pass rolled) material.
Measurement on the electropolished surface showed that
almost all a9-martensite disappeared after removal of a surface MAGNETIC BALANCE
layer with thickness of a few microns. Further polishing did The correlation between the sheet thickness t and the
not affect the results. Also Ferritescope results measured on balance reading B for fully martensitic specimens is shown
the as received surfaces were slightly higher than those in Fig. 5. It can be observed that the effect of thickness is
measured on the electropolished surfaces. Examples of X-ray significant with low sheet thicknesses. The results can be
diffraction spectra, measured with Co Ka radiation before and expressed with an equation
after electropolishing, are shown in Fig 2. a9-martensite is
B~{560:6z123:5|½1{exp ({t=2:3)
z968:5
transformed on the steel surface probably as a result of surface
roughness of the skin pass rolls. Although the cold rolling |½1{exp ({t=0:22)
(12)
reduction is very low, considerable plastic deformation occurs The relation between the Ferritescope measurement results
in a very thin layer of the steel surface during rolling. F and the a9-martensite contents ca9 obtained with the
Therefore, it was concluded that to obtain the results magnetic balance is shown in Fig. 6. As with Satmagan, the
representing the average a9-martensite content of the specimen dependence is linear except for the Ferritescope readings
volume with X-ray diffraction, the measurements must be above 55.
performed on the electropolished surfaces. Fitting a linear function to the data gives the following
equation between the Ferritescope reading F and actual a9-
Measurement of a9-martensite content with martensite content ca9 with R2~0.993
X-ray diffraction
ca0 (mass%)~{0:03z1:766|F : : : : : : : (13)
Almost no evidence of the presence of e-martensite was
found from the X-ray diffraction results. Therefore, all the
samples were considered to contain only austenite and a9-
martensite phases. The a9-martensite contents ca9 measured
with X-ray diffraction are shown as a function of
Ferritescope results F in Fig. 3. The X-ray diffraction
technique gives the contents in volume percentages, which
were converted to mass percentages. Probably because of
differences in the texture, the samples deformed by tensile
straining and by cold rolling show different slopes. The
linear fitting gives the following equations
Cold rolled material, Cr Ka radiation (R2~0.973)

ca0 (mass%)~1:203z2:676|F : : : : : : : (8)

2
Cold rolled material, Co Ka radiation (R ~0.992)
ca0 (mass%)~4:140z1:845|F : : : : : : : (9)
2
Tensile strained material, Cr Ka radiation (R ~0.961)
4 a9-martensite contents (in mass %) measured with Sat-
ca0 (mass%)~0:696z1:422|F : : : : : : : (10) magan and plotted as a function of Ferritescope reading

Materials Science and Technology December 2004 Vol. 20

 1510 Talonen et al. Measuring strain induced a9-martensite in austenitic steels

7 a9-martensite contents (in mass %) calculated from the

5 Correlation between sheet thickness and balance read- density of the specimens and plotted as a function of
ing for fully martensitic specimen Ferritescope reading

with Satmagan and magnetic balance results, the relation-

Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd

ship here seems to be linear, except for the two points that
correspond to the Ferritescope readings above 55. Fitting of
a linear function to the linear part of the data gives an
equation with R2~0.987
ca0 (mass%)~0:004{1:712|F : : : : : : : (17)

OPTICAL METALLOGRAPHY
The microstructure of 15% tensile strained EN 1.4318 steel
is shown in Fig. 8. a9-martensite is coloured in dark grey.
The morphology of a9-martensite phase is in agreement with
the literature. It is very finely dispersed and formed on shear
bands of the austenite phase. Some larger coloured areas
can also be seen. These areas may consist of excess
Ferrofluid that has been distributed non-uniformly and
probably does not indicate the ferromagnetic phase.
6 a9-martensite contents (in mass %) measured with the The a9-martensite content was calculated by means of a
magnetic balance and plotted as a function of Ferrite- point count method.26 The measurements were performed
scope reading on the screen of a microcomputer, which was found to be
the easiest way to distinguish between the finely dispersed
DENSITY MEASUREMENTS a9-martensite phase and the austenite phase. Several
micrographs taken at different locations were counted.
The calculated densities of austenite and a9-martensite The number of points in the grid used was 25. Counting the
phases for the test materials are shown in Table 3. The points in the sample shown in Fig. 8 gave an a9-martensite
following equations were derived from the density values to content of 22.4¡2.4% (volume percentages converted to
calculate the a9-martensite content by assuming a linear mass percentages). The Satmagan measurement for the
relationship between a9-martensite content ca9 and density r same sample gave an a9-martensite content of 18.3%.
of the material
EN 1.4318, 1 mm
ca0 (mass%)~4393{555:6|r : : : : : : : : (14) Discussion
EN 1.4318, 2 mm
ca0 (mass%)~4417{558:7|r : : : : : : : : (15) X-ray diffraction results showed high scatter and different
curves were obtained with different techniques. When
EN 1.4301, 2 mm comparing only one austenite and one a9-martensite
reflection cold rolled and tensile strained materials
ca0 (mass%)~4920{621:1|r : : : : : : : : (16)
showed different correlations with the Ferritescope results.
The density measurement results converted to a9-martensite The results correlated best with the other measurement
contents with equations (14) – (16) are shown as a function techniques studied when several diffraction peaks were
of Ferritescope readings F in Fig. 7. Each data point averaged. It is clear that the discrepancy is caused by the
represents an average of three density measurements. As texture.10 Tilting the X-ray beam in the y angle was not

Table 3 Calculated densities of austenite and a9-martensite phases

Material Thickness Density of austenite, g cm23 Density of a9-martensite, g cm23

EN 1.4318 1 mm 7.908 7.728

EN 1.4318 2 mm 7.906 7.727
EN 1.4301 2 mm 7.922 7.761

Materials Science and Technology December 2004 Vol. 20

 Talonen et al. Measuring strain induced a9-martensite in austenitic steels 1511
8 a9-martensite phase coloured by Ferrofluid in EN 1.4318 steel after 15% tensile deformation
Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd
found to be an effective way to eliminate the effect of the
texture. In the case of X-ray diffraction, another source of
error is that only a small amount of material is covered by
the measurement. Satmagan measurements and density
measurements give an average value of a9-martensite
content whereas the X-ray diffraction measurements
cover only a very thin layer on the specimen surface.
Therefore, if the distribution of a9-martensite within the
specimen is not uniform, comparison of the XRD results
with the other methods covering a larger volume or the
whole specimen should not be performed.
The Satmagan measurements, the magnetic balance
measurements and the density measurements showed
similar correlations between the measured a9-martensite
contents and the Ferritescope measurement results. The
results can, therefore, be considered representative. The
relationship between Ferritescope readings and measured
a9-martensite contents was found to be linear when the
Ferritescope reading was below the value of 55 (the
corresponding a9-martensite content is 90%). The measure-
ment range of Ferritescope is 0 – 60% d-ferrite. Therefore,
the non-linearity of the correlation curve at the high a9-
contents is most probably caused by the limitation of the
Ferritescope. This assumption is supported by the fact that
similar behaviour was observed in the case of all compared
methods.
The reproducibility of the density measurement technique
was found to be unsatisfactory, but averaging of the results
from several measurements resulted in a similar curve to the
magnetic balance technique and the Satmagan measure-
ments. The accuracy of the density measurements could be
improved by using a liquid with higher density for volume
determination and larger specimens.
The magnetic balance technique proved to be an accurate
and easy way to measure the a9-martensite content. As
discussed earlier in this paper and by Livitsanos and
Thomson,15 the method is sensitive to the size of the
specimen, especially to the thickness of the specimen. Other
possible sources of error are surface roughness and
curvature. When using a magnet with a tapered tip the
effect of surface roughness is most probably negligible. The
effect of curvature was not studied in this investigation, but
it needs further consideration if curved specimens are to be
measured. Livitsanos and Thomson15 also discussed
whether the stress state during deformation or the texture
affects the magnetic measurement. It was concluded that
these factors do not have any influence on the measurement.
This is supported by the results presented in this paper.
Materials Science and Technology
With all the techniques studied both tensile strained and
cold rolled materials were tested, and in each case the results
followed the same line.
Optical microscopy was shown to be applicable to detect
a9-martensite. Point counting gave slightly higher a9-
martensite content than the Satmagan measurement. The
very fine morphology of the a9-martensite phase makes
point counting difficult. In addition, non-uniform distribu-
tion of Ferrofluid may cause false indications and, there-
fore, lead to overestimation of the a9-martensite content.
Comparison of the results with the calibration curves
presented in the literature shows that the curves presented
by Hecker et al.7 and by Peterson18 strongly overestimate
the actual a9-martensite contents. The curves determined by
Rintamaa14 and Hünicke19 are in a better agreement with
the results obtained in this investigation, especially at low
a9-martensite content.
Conclusions
A Ferritescope may be used to measure strain induced a9-
martensite, but a calibration curve is needed to convert the
results to actual a9-martensite content. The Satmagan
device and density measurements were found to give
consistent results and the relation between the measured
a9-martensite content and Ferritescope readings is linear
below Ferritescope readings of 55 (a9-martensite content of
90%).
A magnetic balance based on a permanent magnet was
found to be a reliable and rapid way to measure a9-
martensite content. The results correlated well with the
Satmagan and density measurement results. The limitation
of the method is its sensitivity to the size and shape of the
specimen.
It was observed that a9-martensite content is higher on
the steel surfaces than in the interior. Therefore, X-ray
diffraction measurements must to be performed on the
electropolished surfaces to obtain representative results.
Electropolishing is recommended also for other methods
that do not cover the whole volume of the specimen
(Ferritescope and magnetic balance). The results of X-ray
diffraction measurements were affected by the texture. The
effect of the texture can be reduced by averaging several
diffraction peaks.
Optical metallography was found to be applicable to
detect a9-martensite. Quantitative analysis by means of
December 2004 Vol. 20
 1512 Talonen et al. Measuring strain induced a9-martensite in austenitic steels
point counting is, however, inaccurate and time consuming
because of the fine morphology of the a9-martensite phase
and the possible false indications caused by non-uniform
distribution of Ferrofluid.
According to the results of this investigation, the
Ferritescope readings F can be converted to the actual a9-
martensite contents ca9 with equation
ca0 (mass%)~1:7|F : : : : : : : : : : : (18)
Acknowledgements
This investigation is a part of the 5th Framework project
LIGHT&SAFE financed by European Commission.
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