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Abstract
Two dual phase steels with markedly different microstructural banding have been serial sectioned for characterisation and quantification of the banding in three dimension (3D). Two parameters, bounded on a scale of zero to one, have been defined to quantify the amount of microstructural banding in two dimension (2D). The band continuity index Cb quantifies the continuity of each band within the band. The perpendicular continuity index Cp describes the continuity between adjacent bands. In the present work, these parameters are extended and applied to full 3D bands. The results show that while the connectivity of bands in 3D is different than what is observed in 2D, the quantification of banding with these parameters in 2D is sufficient to accurately represent the banding in 3D, thus validating these newly defined parameters.
The present research was carried out under project no. M41·10·09330 in the framework of the Research Program of the Materials innovation institute M2i (www.m2i.nl). Thanks to our industrial partner, Tata Steel Europe (formerly Corus Steel), for the materials and the use of the polishing, etching and microscope labs. Thanks to the Metallography and Surface Analysis Group at Tata Steel RT&D for the use of their facilities, help with the data acquisition and for the insightful discussions about the present work. K. S. McGarrity would like to thank E. McGarrity for discussion and help with revising the manuscript. The authors thank K. de Moel, K. Lammers and P. Kok for discussions, guidance and valuable insights with this project. K. S. McGarrity extends special thanks to J. Wörmann for the personal help during the data acquisition period.