The majority of stainless steels are soft and prone to deformation and scratching during metallographic preparation, which makes an accurate preparation method essential. Find out how to prepare stainless steel for metallographic examination with reproducible results.
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For martensitic steels
1) V2A etchant:
100 ml water
100 ml hydrochloric acid
10 ml nitric acid
Etch at room temperature or up to 50 °C
2)
33 ml water
33 ml ethanol
33 ml hydrochloric acid
1.5 g copper-II-chloride (Kalling I)
3)
100 ml water
100 ml hydrochloric acid
5g copper-II-chloride (Kalling II)
For austenitic steels
1) V2A etchant:
100 ml water
100 ml hydrochloric acid
10 ml nitric acid
Etch at room temperature or up to 50 °C
2) Adler etchant:
25 ml distilled water
50 ml hydrochloric acid
15 g iron-III-chloride
3 g diammoniumtetrachlorocuprat (II)
Can be used for stainless steels undiluted or mixed with water or ethanol up to 1:1
3)
100 ml water
300 ml hydrochloric acid
15 ml hydrogen peroxide (30 %)
Color etchant Beraha II:
Stock solution
800 ml distilled water
400 ml hydrochloric acid
48 g ammonium biflouride
For etching, add 1-2 g potassium metabisulfite to 100 ml of this stock solution
Color etchant Lichtenegger & Bloech:
100 ml distilled water
20 g ammonium bifluoride
0.5 g potassium metabisulfite
Can be used for austenitic and duplex steels
If you would like to learn more about the materialography of other metals and materials, check out our materials page.
All images by Holger Schnarr, application specialist, Germany
For specific information about the metallographic preparation of stainless steel, contact our application specialists.
