New York Paper - Use of Sodium Picrate in Revealing Dendritic Segregation in Iron Alloys (with Discussion)

Iron, like other metals, solidifies through the formation of dendritic crystals; iron alloys forming solid solutions, like other solid solutions, solidify likewise through the formation of dendritic crystals. The alloying elements or impurities as well as the inclusions segregate generally in the interstices, or "fillings," between the axes and branches of the dendrites; that is, in the portions last to solidify. This results in dendritic segregation or heterogeneity, which is generally persistent and makes possible the revelation of the dendritic crystallization of the metal through the selective action of a suitable etching reagent.' For this purpose, a cuprie solution, such as Le Chatelier's, is generally used, copper being deposited on the pure, or relatively pure, ferrite present in the axes while the fillings remain free, or relatively free, from copper deposition. The dendritic structure, formed on solidification in a steel containing 0.50 per cent. carbon, 0.37 per cent. manganese, 0.12 per cent. silicon, 0.07 per cent. sulfur, and 0.035 per cent. phosphorus is shown, after treatment with Le Chatelier reagent, in Fig. 1 under a magnification of 8 diameters. Commercial steel always contains inclusions of manganese sulfide, which are located in the fillings of the dendrites. Comstock has shown that boiling sodium picrate imparts a dark coloration to these inclusions. We find that this reagent likewise reveals dendritic segregations in commercial steel, as shown in Fig. 2, under a magnification of 8 diameters. which represents the same spot as that shown in Fig. 1. The fillings have been darkened while the axes remain white, the action being, therefore, the reverse of that of cupric reagents. On closer examination, under higher magnification (Fig. 3) it is found that the picrate blackens the small particles of manganese sulfide, that these are frequently surrounded by a rim of white, or relatively white, ferrite, and that both the ferrite