Correlative microscopy of a carbide-free bainitic steel

• TKD and TEM were carried out on the same area of a TEM sample.
• Area position and crystal orientation determined by TKD and TEM agree very well.
• Correlative microscopy allowed an investigation of the martensite–austenite islands.
• Inside the martensite–austenite areas electron diffraction patterns show satellites.

In this work a carbide-free bainitic steel was examined by a novel correlative microscopy approach using transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The individual microstructural constituents could be identified by TKD based on their different crystal structure for bainitic ferrite and retained austenite and by image quality for the martensite–austenite (M–A) constituent. Subsequently, the same area was investigated in the TEM and a good match of these two techniques regarding the identification of the area position and crystal orientation could be proven. Additionally, the M–A constituent was examined in the TEM for the first time after preceded unambiguous identification using a correlative microscopy approach. The selected area diffraction pattern showed satellites around the main reflexes which might indicate a structural modulation.