4 4 0 METALLOGRAPHY

Steelmakers employ the McQuaid-Ehn test to determine if a steel is "inherently" fine-grained; i.e., it has a grain size number of 5 or greater. Although this
technique is a good procedure for carburizing steels that are subjected to similar
carburizing cycles, the results can be misleading for steels austenitized at lower
temperatures. Steels that exhibit fine-grained structures at normal austenitizing
temperatures, e.g., 1500 to 1600F (816 to 871C), might be defined as coarsegrained and, thus, unsalable, after the McQuaid-Ehn test. If the test shows that a
particular steel is coarse-grained, the steel should be evaluated by the oxidation
test at the prescribed austenitization temperature for the grade, assuming that the
austenitization temperature is below 1700T (927C).
The fracture grain size test, which is discussed later in this chapter, is only
suitable for high-hardness steels with a predominantly martensitic structure. This
method is widely employed in tests of tool steels. As a test method, it is quite
accurate, simple to use, and extremely fast.
Standard chart methods The 1930 revision of ASTM Specification E2 contained
the first standard chart for rating grain size. The chart was intended for rating
annealed copper and copper alloys containing annealing twins and consisted of 10
micrographs at 75X prepared with a grain contrast etch. Grain sizes were
expressed as the average grain diameter in millimeters determined by the Jeffries
method. At the time the chart was developed, the ASTM method for defining
grain size was not in existence. This chart was criticized on the basis of the picture
grading. The grain size portion of ASTM E2 was deleted in 1941. This information
was reevaluated and issued as ASTM Specification E79 in 1949 with a chart
containing 12 micrographs. ASTM E79 was discontinued in 1963, when all of the
grain size methods were incorporated into the current specification, ASTM El 12.
The current chart has 14 graded micrographs.
In 1932 ASTM established a committee to prepare a grain size chart for rating
austenite grain size in steels using the McQuaid-Ehn test. ASTM Specification
E19, adopted in 1933, contained a single chart that consisted of eight graded
pictures of both the hypereutectoid and hypoeutectoid subsurface zones. Although the chart listed ranges for the number of grains per square inch at 100X for
each grain size number, tabular data were not included until the 1938 revision.
The ASTM E19 McQuaid-Ehn chart was widely used but severely criticized
because of inaccuracies. Most of the grain size pictures depicted finer grain sizes
than the ratings given. Measurement methods were not included in ASTM E19.
These charts were discontinued in 1961, when ASTM El 12 was adopted. They
were replaced by a single chart, Plate IV of ASTM E112, illustrating cementite
grain-boundary networks in steels for grain sizes 1 to 8.
ASTM established a committee in 1947 to prepare a chart for rating ferrite
grain size in steels. ASTM E89 was subsequently introduced in 1949 and contained a chart depicting ferrite grains with sizes from 1 to 8. ASTM E89 introduced
formal procedures for measuring the grain size by the Heyn intercept method and
also included the Jeffries method. This chart was reasonably accurate. Nital
etching had been employed, and numerous poorly etched and unetched grain
boundaries were present, a common problem with nital etching of ferrite grains.