Characteristics of Metallographic Preparation of Heat Exchanger Austenitic Stainless Steels

This paper describes a metallographic preparation of the heat-exchanger austenitic stainless steels, i.e., SUPER 304H, HR3C and Sanicro 25. The as-received materials delivered after the solution annealing are very resistant to the chemical etchants. Therefore, it is more efficient to optimize the parameters of the electrolytic etching in the acidic or basic electrolytes. After the materials’ operation under elevated temperatures (600–750 °C), the microstructure is easier to etch due to the reduction of corrosion resistance. For the following analyses, it is necessary to think of the etching purpose in advance. For the grain size determination, it is sufficient to use electrolytic etching in the oxalic acid solution or chemical swabbing in the combination of 15 ml HCl, 10 ml acetic acid and 5 ml HNO3. For the image analysis of the intermetallics, the previous methods can be too invasive and give skewed results. In many cases, this leads to the overetching and thus removal of the observed particles (intermetallics, carbides, etc.). It is suitable to use selective etching methods or only polishing for a more precise evaluation, e.g., electron microscopy. © 2022 Trans Tech Publications Ltd, Switzerland.