Applying the Spacing Transform on Secondary Dendrite Arm Spacing Measurements of a Cast High-Strength Low-Alloy Steel

Measurement of secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) is one of the key metrics for quantifying the microstructural evolution and cooling rate of solidified cast metallic alloys. This measurement provides a practical way to evaluate the effects of microstructure on material properties. In the current work, the spacing transform was used to measure the SDAS of a cast high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steel wedge, and the results were compared with those from both solidification modeling and traditional line intercept methods. It was shown that the results obtained from the three methods closely matched. The results provide quantitative agreement as well as a spatial distribution of spacing from more rapidly cooled sections to slower cooled areas. This further opens more opportunity for the spacing transform to be used in generating very robust and statistically reliable dataset needed for advanced microstructure quantification within a short time that would otherwise be impossible with the manual method.