2006 Volume 46 Issue 11 Pages 1674-1678
In this study, the MAXIM (MAterials X-rays IMaging) technique was used to identify the phases present in previously galvanized steel samples, and to clarify the phase transformation sequence that occurs during in situ annealing of galvanized samples. A diffractometer equipped with a novel imaging system comprising a Micro-Channel Plate in front of a CCD camera was used. The galvanized samples were produced under typical industrial conditions, with effective aluminum content of 0.147 wt%. The experiments involved two sets of conditions: (1) experiments based on the observation, at room temperature, of previously galvannealed samples. (2) in-situ annealing experiments, where the phase evolution was recorded in real time. It can be concluded that, coupled to in-situ heat treatment, MAXIM is an efficient method to observe the phase distribution and the evolution of the phases present in galvanized/galvannealed samples.
