A method of computer processing of metallographic images of structures of materials that consists of the automatic (and, at the final stage, interactive) editing of images, localization of analyzed details, and their quantitative analysis is described. As an example, this method was applied to 12Kh1MF low-alloy steel after its operation for ~13⋅104 h at a main steam pipeline of a thermal power plant. We assessed the structures of a straight segment of the steam pipeline and a tension zone of its bend and the integral number and area occupied by carbides located along grain boundaries, using them as indices of degradation of the steel. By using the developed method, we show that the rate of degradation of the steel in the tension zone of the bend is higher than that on the straight segment of the steam pipeline. The metal near the external surfaces of pipes degrades to a larger extent than near the internal surfaces. This is explained by unequal creep resistances of different segments of the steam pipeline in operation.
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Translated from Fizyko-Khimichna Mekhanika Materialiv, Vol.47, No.3, pp.109–115, May–June, 2011.
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Vorobel’, R.A., Zhuravel’, I.M., Svirs’ka, L.M. et al. Automatic selection and quantitative analysis of carbides on grain boundaries of 12Kh1MF steel after operation at a steam pipeline of a thermal power plant. Mater Sci 47, 393–400 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11003-011-9408-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11003-011-9408-3