skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: High throughput crystal structure and composition mapping of crystalline nanoprecipitates in alloys by transmission Kikuchi diffraction and analytical electron microscopy

Journal Article · · Ultramicroscopy

Statistically significant crystal structure and composition identification of nanocrystalline features such as nanoparticles/nanoprecipitates in materials chemistry and alloy designing using electron microscopy remains a grand challenge. In this paper, we reveal that differing crystallographic phases of nanoprecipitates in alloys can be mapped with unprecedented statistics using transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD), on typical carbon-based electron-transparent samples. Using a case of multiphase, multicomponent nanoprecipitates extracted from an improved version of 9% chromium Eurofer-97 reduced-activation ferritic-martensitic steel we show that TKD successfully identified more than thousand M23C6, MX, M7C3, and M2X (M=Fe, Cr, W, V, Ta; X = C, N) nanoprecipitates in a single scan, something that is currently unachievable using a transmission electron microscope (TEM) without incorporating a precision electron diffraction (PED) system. Precipitates as small as ~20–25 nm were successfully phase identified by TKD. We verified the TKD phase identification using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED) pattern analysis of a few precipitates that were identified by TKD on same sample. TKD study was combined with state-of-art analytical scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM)-energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy and multivariate statistical analysis (MVSA) which provided the complete crystal structure and distinct chemistries of the precipitates in the steel in a high throughput automated way. This technique should be applicable to characterizing any multiphase crystalline nanoparticles or nanomaterials. Furthermore the results highlight that combining phase identification by TKD with analytical STEM and modern data analytics may open new pathways in big data material characterization at nanoscale that may be highly beneficial for characterizing existing materials and in designing new materials.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1505331
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1636489
Journal Information:
Ultramicroscopy, Vol. 202, Issue C; ISSN 0304-3991
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 16 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (68)

Expansion of interatomic distances in platinum catalyst nanoparticles journal February 2010
Copper nanoparticle@graphene composite arrays and their enhanced catalytic performance journal February 2016
Near-Unity Efficiency Energy Transfer from Colloidal Semiconductor Quantum Wells of CdSe/CdS Nanoplatelets to a Monolayer of MoS 2 journal July 2018
Exploitation of Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance journal October 2004
Phase-Pure Crystalline Zinc Phosphide Nanoparticles: Synthetic Approaches and Characterization journal February 2014
Low-cost and nanoscale non-volatile memory concept for future silicon chips journal March 2005
Tracking Metal Electrodeposition Dynamics from Nucleation and Growth of a Single Atom to a Crystalline Nanoparticle journal June 2018
Nanostructured materials for advanced energy conversion and storage devices journal May 2005
Chemical Synthesis and Characterization of γ-Co 2 NiGa Nanoparticles with a Very High Curie Temperature journal October 2015
Effect of oriented γ′ precipitates on shape memory effect and superelasticity in Co–Ni–Ga single crystals journal April 2014
Nanostructured high-strength molybdenum alloys with unprecedented tensile ductility journal January 2013
Ultrastrong steel via minimal lattice misfit and high-density nanoprecipitation journal April 2017
Development of next generation tempered and ODS reduced activation ferritic/martensitic steels for fusion energy applications journal June 2017
Development of castable nanostructured alloys as a new generation RAFM steels journal December 2018
General Synthetic Strategy for Libraries of Supported Multicomponent Metal Nanoparticles journal April 2018
Processing and properties of magnesium containing a dense uniform dispersion of nanoparticles journal December 2015
The development and stability of Y–Ti–O nanoclusters in mechanically alloyed Fe–Cr based ferritic alloys journal August 2004
Designing Radiation Resistance in Materials for Fusion Energy journal July 2014
On the status and prospects for nanostructured ferritic alloys for nuclear fission and fusion application with emphasis on the underlying science journal January 2018
Core-shell nanoparticle arrays double the strength of steel journal February 2017
Some Reactions in the Iron–Carbon System: Application to the Tempering of Martensite journal June 1951
Superior radiation-resistant nanoengineered austenitic 304L stainless steel for applications in extreme radiation environments journal January 2015
Brittle intermetallic compound makes ultrastrong low-density steel with large ductility journal February 2015
Nature of χ-Carbide and Its Possible Occurrence in Steels journal October 1966
Creep-strengthening of steel at high temperatures using nano-sized carbonitride dispersions journal July 2003
A New Nitride Precipitate in Iron-Silicon Alloys journal October 1959
Recent status and improvement of reduced-activation ferritic-martensitic steels for high-temperature service journal October 2016
Orientation and phase mapping in the transmission electron microscope using precession-assisted diffraction spot recognition: state-of-the-art results: REVIEW OF PACOM (ASTAR) APPLICATION journal July 2013
Nanoscale Automated Phase and Orientation Mapping in the TEM journal November 2012
High spatial resolution semi-automatic crystallite orientation and phase mapping of nanocrystals in transmission electron microscopes journal April 2011
Metallurgical characterization of coupled carbon diffusion and precipitation in dissimilar steel welds journal February 2016
Direct carbon replicas from metal surfaces journal June 1956
Uses of Carbon Replicas in Electron Microscopy journal December 1956
Quantitative assessment of extraction replicas for particle analysis journal March 1968
Growth of Sulphide Films on Steel journal August 1960
Replica Extraction Method on Nanostructured Gold Coatings and Orientation Determination Combining SEM and TEM Techniques journal October 2014
Boron Autoradiography with the Electron Microscope journal August 1969
Evolution of microstructure and mechanical properties during thermomechanical processing of a low-density multiphase steel for automotive application journal August 2014
Coarsening behaviour of M23C6 carbides in creep-resistant steel exposed to high temperatures journal July 2016
A Technique for Sampling Oxide Layers and Brittle Materials for Microdiffraction journal April 1960
Freeze-fracture electron microscopy journal March 2007
Transmission Kikuchi diffraction in a scanning electron microscope: A review journal December 2016
Orientation mapping of nanostructured materials using transmission Kikuchi diffraction in the scanning electron microscope journal September 2012
Transmission EBSD from 10 nm domains in a scanning electron microscope: TRANSMISSION EBSD IN THE SEM journal November 2011
On the optimum resolution of transmission-electron backscattered diffraction (t-EBSD) journal January 2016
Characterizing deformed ultrafine-grained and nanocrystalline materials using transmission Kikuchi diffraction in a scanning electron microscope journal January 2014
Features of Transmission EBSD and its Application journal July 2013
Grain boundary mediated hydriding phase transformations in individual polycrystalline metal nanoparticles journal October 2017
Viewpoint: Nanoscale chemistry and crystallography are both the obstacle and pathway to advanced radiation-tolerant materials journal January 2018
Grain orientations and grain boundaries in tungsten nonotendril fuzz grown under divertor-like conditions journal January 2017
Nanostructure characterisation of flow-formed Cr–Mo–V steel using transmission Kikuchi diffraction technique journal June 2015
Characterisation of nano-grains in MgB2 superconductors by transmission Kikuchi diffraction journal May 2015
Grain size effect on deformation twinning propensity in ultrafine-grained hexagonal close-packed titanium journal September 2013
The capability of Transmission Kikuchi Diffraction technique for characterizing nano-grained oxide scales formed on a FeCrAl stainless steel journal May 2015
Eurofer Steel, Development to Full Code Qualification journal January 2013
Development of new generation reduced activation ferritic-martensitic steels for advanced fusion reactors journal September 2016
Electron densities in VN. I. High-precision x-ray-diffraction determination of the valence-electron density distribution and atomic displacement parameters journal July 1987
Atom distributions in tau-carbide phases: Fe and Cr distributions in (Cr 23− x Fe x )C 6 with x = 0, 0·7 4 , 1·7 0 , 4·1 3 and 7·3 6 journal June 1987
Formation of NaCl-type Cr carbide by carbon ion implantation journal April 1993
Structure refinement for Cr2N journal February 1990
Nucleation and growth of tungsten nanotendrils grown under divertor-like conditions journal October 2018
Homeopathic ICA: A simple approach to expand the use of independent component analysis (ICA) journal March 2015
Accounting for Poisson noise in the multivariate analysis of ToF-SIMS spectrum images journal March 2004
TEM characterization on new 9% Cr advanced steels thermomechanical treated after tempering journal March 2018
Niobium carbonitride precipitation and austenite recrystallization in hot-rolled microalloyed steels journal March 1980
Laser melting and heat treatment of m2 tool steel: A microstructural characterization journal July 1979
Precipitation in Interstitial Free High Strength Steels journal January 2009
CASINO a Powerful Simulation Tool for Cathodoluminescence Applications journal July 2006