Determination of the grain size for a Microsection

Objective
To enable the student to become acquainted with photomicrography and make use of
.it in the determination of the grain size for a microsection

Instruments
.Microscope, Digital Caliper

Theory
Metals, except in a few instances, are crystalline in nature and, except for single
crystals, they contain internal boundaries known as grain boundaries. When a new
grain is nucleated during processing (as in solidification or annealing after cold
working), the atoms within each growing grain are lined up in a specific pattern that
depends upon the crystal structure of the metal or alloy. With growth, each grain will
eventually impinge on others and form an interface where the atomic orientations are
different.

Procedure
1- Take a photomicrograph (using the metallurgical microscope) of one of the
specimens you prepared in the Experiment 1. Make more trials in order to reach
optimal camera setting that yields clear photographs in which the grain boundaries are
evident and well defined. The magnification used should be higher than 100x.
2- Using a sharp pencil, draw a rectangle of known area on the photomicrograph.
Count the nominal number of grains as one and each boundary grain intercepted by
the perimeter as a half.
3- Calculate the number of grains per square inch at the magnification used to obtain
the photomicrograph. Modify the calculation to obtain the umber of grains per square
inch at 100x magnification, using the following equation:

n100 = nm * [ M / 100 ]2
Where n100 is the number of grains per square inch at 100x magnification.
nm is the number of grains per square inch at the magnification M of the
.photomicrograph
:The ASTM grain size number N is calculated from the following equation -4

N = [ ln ( n ) / ln ( 2) ] + 1
Questions
1- Compute the average and standard deviation for different values computed by
students.
2- What is the relationship between the grain size and ductility and hardness?