Estimation of Number Density of Particles Considering Their Morphology and Size-distribution in Particle Dispersion Strengthening Steels

The number density of particles was estimated regarding to the high strength steels containing non-spherical shaped precipitates with various size. The shapes of particles were evaluated by modeling based on the experimental results obtained by transmission electron microscopy. When the spatial degrees of freedom of particle size were restricted to two-dimensions, the effect of particle size distribution on the number density became relatively small compared to the case of the three spatial degrees of freedom. This finding suggested that the number density might be obtained from the mean particle size. It was noted that the effect of size deviation could be negligible when the particles were platelet-shaped and their thickness was assumed to be constant.