Presentation at TMS 2023

Pritesh Parikh¹, Darshan Jaware¹, Jiangtao Zhu¹, Karol Putyera², Rajiv S. Soman²

¹ Eurofins Nanolab Technologies, 1708 McCarthy Blvd, Milpitas, CA 95035

² Eurofins EAG Materials Sciences LLC., 103 Commerce Boulevard, Liverpool, NY 13088, USA 

Microstructural changes due to processing conditions, types of processes used, and fatigue lead to defects, segregation of elements along defects and grain boundaries, precipitate and inclusion formation. Direct material analysis with 2D techniques such as TEM (transmission electron microscopy) provide structure and chemical mapping upto ~ 1 at%.  APT (Atom Probe Tomography), adds to this by providing quantitative analysis of elemental composition with high spatial resolution (nm) and high sensitivity (~ 10 ppm). In this work, we investigate additive manufactured alloys, commercial and certified that were previously studied with bulk techniques for microstructural features. Our preliminary analysis indicates segregation of P up to 0.1 at%, which cannot be detected with other techniques. APT helps to augment the quantitative microstructure information in alloys by performing a full 3D analysis specifically of low concentration elements, during the research and development phases of the processes, and during useful lifecycle of the in-use parts.