QUANTITATIVE MICROSCOPY 4 3 9

times produced finer grain sizes. They used a 1-min etch in 15% alcoholic HC1.
This method works well for fine-grain-size steels with which many other methods
fail.
The most commonly used procedure for decorating austenite grain boundaries is the carburization method developed by McQuaid and Ehn. While originally
designed for testing of carburizing steels, it has been subsequently applied to test
most carbon and alloy steels. A small sample is pack-carburized for 8 h at 1700F
(925C), after which it is slowly cooled to room temperature. The sample is cut in
half, polished, and etched (generally with nital or picral, but alkaline sodium
picrate is far better). At the carburized surface, excess cementite precipitates at
the austenite grain boundaries (see Fig. 6-7).

2% Nital

Alkaline Sodium Picrate

-boiling

Alkaline Sodium Picrate

-electrolytic (1 A/ cm 2-l min)
Figure 6-7 Examples of the use of various popular etchants for revealing grain-boundary cementite
networks in McQuaid-Ehn carburized test samples (120 x ) .