Novel etching technique for delineation of prior-austenite grain boundaries in low, medium and high carbon steels

The etching of prior austenite grain boundaries in martensite for detailed quantitative metallography of low to high carbon steel has been carried out using aqueous solutions of picric acid containing different wetting agents. The choice of wetting agent was shown to be dependent on the carbon content of the steel, with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) being more suitable for use with low and medium carbon steels, whereas sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) was shown to be more appropriate for high carbon steels. It is also recommended that, for a particular steel, a variety of temper treatments should be carried out in order to reveal grain boundaries, particularly where more detailed results than simple grain size measurements are required. Finally, the use of dummy specimens prior to etching of the real samples was shown to reduce the need for re-polishing and re-etching of the samples.